Out of This World
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Two new roommates, Emily and Joni, find themselves in the world of Star Trek, where they join the Enterprise crew in the mission against Nero and find their places amongst the crew. Along the way, they will discover friendship, love, and themselves. Will take place in the alternate reality only. Jim Kirk/oc
1. New Roomates

AN: Okay, guys, I know it's been awhile, but I decided to start a new story with my best friend. We're writing this story together, so please be nice, because she's never done fanfiction before. Anyway, so read and hopefully review and we sincerely hope that you like it!

Lady Dawson

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter One: New Roommates

"Yeah, so that's one large half-cheese, half-all meat special, an order of breadsticks . . . and I think that should probably do it," Emily Conner said into the phone, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as she tossed a glance over at her roommate. "Hey, Joni, you want anything else?"

Joni Bennett shook her head as she continued typing away what she was doing, finishing up whatever it was she was doing before shutting it down. Her dark brown hair—so dark that it was almost black—swept around her as she disappeared into the next room, her light brown eyes never once glancing Emily's way.

Suppressing a small sigh, Emily briefly wondered if this was as good of an idea as it had seemed this morning while she finished ordering the pizza.

She and Joni had been roommates for all of one week and this was the first time that they'd actually had the chance to sit down and get to know each other. With their colliding schedules, they just hadn't had the chance. Plus, Joni put up this serious front, never letting anyone in. Over the past week, Emily had tried numerous times to get her to open up, to talk about stuff, but Joni was noncommittal, usually only giving her one or two word answers.

But Emily was determined to try and—at the very least—be friends with her. They were rooming together; they had to live with each other, so the least they could do was be friendly with one another, if nothing else.

So when she found out Joni was free tonight too, she suggested that they have a movie night. Joni was reluctant, but after much persuading from Emily, she finally gave in, albeit a bit unenthusiastically.

Making her way into the living room, Emily replaced the cordless before turning to Joni with a bright smile.

"Pizza should be here in about twenty minutes or so," she told her, climbing onto the couch next to her roommate.

Joni just nodded silently while flipping through the channels, trying to find anything decent.

Emily glanced at the guide. "You find anything worth watching?"

"Not really," she responded without a glance at the blonde. "It's incredible; we have all these channels and there's still never anything on."

"We could always just pop a DVD in," Emily suggested, trying to think of something to suggest, but she didn't know what kind of movies Joni was really interested in. "I've got all six Star Wars movies in my room . . . or not," she added as her roommate looked doubtful.

"I've just seen them all way too many times," Joni sighed, looking slightly awkward—or maybe a tad embarrassed, Emily thought. "But, um . . . we could watch Star Trek. The new Star Trek movies have more action in them like the Star Wars movies. If you're more into action," she elaborates.

"There's one that comes right before the one that just came out in theaters, right?" Emily wanted to know. "Into Darkness, I think?"

Nodding, Joni replied, "Yeah, the one in theaters is the sequel to the 2009 one. I've got the 2009, which is just called Star Trek, in my room . . . if you want to watch it," she added offhandedly, like she didn't particularly care one way or another, but Emily grinned at her, getting the feeling that she actually did.

"Actually, that one looks pretty cool," she said cheerfully. "I was thinking about going to see it. Yeah, let's pop it in."

The corners of Joni's mouth twitched, almost like she was smiling—or at least, she looked less grim, Emily corrected herself—as she stood up, going into her bedroom and leaving Emily on the couch. Only a few seconds later, she was back, a worn copy of the DVD in her hands as she opened it up, popping the disc into the player.

"Bear in mind, though, I might be asking you a lot of questions about this," Emily warned her. "I don't know much about Star Trek."

Joni shrugged. "That's okay," she said dryly. "I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have."

Emily chuckled. "You? Happy?"

Light brown eyes flashing slightly, Joni turned to her. "Watch it," she warned. "I'm not a freaking Vulcan."

"What on earth does the Roman god have to do with anything?"

Heaving a sigh, Joni rolled her eyes in exasperation as she turned back towards the television, flipping through the trailers until she reached the main screen, hitting the play button.

"Just shut up and watch," she complained.

"Yes, ma'am," Emily quipped, settling into a comfortable position and pulling a pillow into her lap as the two girls began to watch, only pausing it to get up and get the pizza when the doorbell rang.

Digging into her cheese half, Emily watched in interest as the handsome main character came onto the screen. "He's cute."

"_That_," Joni replied, "is Captain James T. Kirk. Or, he's going to be," she corrected herself. "Obviously, he's not a captain yet. Careful, though, he tends to leave a trail of broken hearts in his wake."

"Let me guess, handsome, street-smart, intelligent rebel without a cause?" Emily said dryly. Joni stared at her. "I've got a type."

"Really? Would not figure you for the bad boys," Joni mused.

"Not bad boys, just . . . rebels," Emily said weakly. Joni shook her head. "That reminds me, if a guy named Adam calls here, just tell him to shove it and hang up."

"Duly noted," her roommate murmured.

With a faint smile, Emily finished off her pizza, setting her paper plate on top of the empty box and settling back against the couch to finish the movie.

Two hours later, when the Starship Enterprise was blasting apart the futuristic ship, Emily glanced over at Joni, only to find that the dark-haired girl had fallen asleep, her hair fluttering every time she took a breath.

Chuckling, Emily turned back to the television to finish watch, glad that she'd given it a chance, if only for Joni's sake. While she had been an avid Star Wars fan since before she could even remember, she had never really gotten into Star Trek, mostly because the few parts she'd seen of the older ones just got too . . .

Well, scientific-y for her taste. But this one felt a little more action-y and a little less science-y.

First chance she got, she decided, she was definitely going to go see that new one. It actually had looked pretty cool, from the trailers she'd seen. Maybe the next time she and Joni had a night off, they would go, she thought as she tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as she watched Jim Kirk enter the bridge of the Enterprise, beginning to issue orders to his new crew.

He was definitely nicer than Adam, she thought with a scowl, pushing any thoughts of her on-again, off-again ex-boyfriend from high school.

After he'd successfully ripped her heart in two during prom by sleeping with her former best friend, Emily had sworn off guys, determined never to feel the way that Adam made her feel again. She never wanted to feel the heartache and betrayal that she'd felt when she found them in the parking lot, in her own car, without an inch of clothing between them. Time might mend all wounds, but it didn't mend the memory. She hated feeling so empty and hurt and distressed all at once.

Still, she thought as she flipped back a few scenes to watch Kirk again—an unfortunate habit of hers; once she watched a movie, she usually just skipped through to her favorite scenes to watch them again—it was a shame that Jim was only a fictional character; if she could meet a guy like that, someone who clearly cared about people and would do anything to keep them safe and fought for something he honestly believed in, despite all the odds, and went to great lengths to ensure that it succeeded, even though it was basically a suicide mission, and risk his own life for the lives of others . . .

It's was truly a shame, she thought unhappily, that she _couldn't_ find a guy like James T. Kirk. She might actually give him the time of day.

Getting up to get rid of the pizza box, Emily returned to the living room, pulling a blanket around her as she flipped through the channels absently, barely even noticing the drowsiness that hovered around her until her eyelids fluttered closed and then she was asleep, completely unaware of any changes in her surroundings.

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep!_

Emily groaned slightly, her eyelids fluttering slightly as she heard the annoying, unmistakable sound of an alarm clock beeping irritatingly at her.

"Oh, god, what's that noise?"

Green eyes flying open, Emily spun around quickly to blink into the dark—it was either very dark or very early, she thought, or both—trying blindly to find the source of the noise, managing somehow to turn it off, but that didn't exactly help with the lights. "Where's the lamp?" she muttered drowsily, rubbing her eyes. "Where's the light."

The second that she said 'light,' the lights automatically flicked on, rendering Emily blind for a minute before she regained her sight, glancing wearily around at the unfamiliar room, which appeared to be a dorm of some kind.

Across from her was another girl—or at least, she _thought_ she was a girl until she got a good look at her and realized that:

a) she had a tail

and b) she had unmistakably feline features on her face.

_What in the . . ._ Emily thought wildly, staring in shock at the half-girl, half-cat as she pushed herself into a sitting position, yawning widely and yes, she thought, she did happen to have cat-like teeth.

"What?" she asked sleepily, opening one eye and noticing that Emily was staring at her. "Oh, great, I have bed hair, don't I?"

"Um . . . no, no, sorry," Emily said, glancing swiftly around the room and trying very hard not to panic. Where the heck was she? "Weird dream . . ."

"Yeah, right," the cat-girl said dryly, folding her arms over her chest and giving Emily an exasperated look. "He's here again, isn't he?"

Emily blinked. "Who?"

Rolling her eyes, the cat-girl said impatiently, "Don't give me that. Where is he? If he's in the bathroom with his head in the toilet again, just tell me now so I can go to Nyota's room and get ready."

Before Emily could even come up with some kind of explanation—though what she was going to say, she had absolutely no idea—they both heard a loud grunt, followed by a swear, that was coming right from the bathroom. Emily stared at the bathroom door, then slowly turned to look at the cat-girl, settling for a sheepish grin.

"Um . . . okay, yeah, he's in the bathroom," she said weakly, though she was confused by which 'he' she was talking about.

"Thought so," the cat-girl said unhappily, reaching into one of the closets and plucking out a few items, which seemed to consist of a red uniform, tucking them under her arm as she headed out the door. "Look, Em, I know he's your best friend, but seriously, he spends more time in our dorm than he spends in his own and most of the time, it's because he's dead drunk and you just pulled him out of a bar brawl."

"Yeah, well . . . you know, guys . . ." Emily replied, biting her lip.

"And he's worse than usual," the cat-girl muttered. "What's amazing is how good he actually is." She sighed. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Emily muttered, her head spinning as she watched the cat-girl leave, closing the door behind her.

Slowly, she looked around at the room, trying to put her thoughts in order. Where in the world _was_ she and more importantly, how on earth did she even get here? The last thing she remembered was . . .

Well, she and Joni were sitting on the couch, watching Star Trek, and then . . . well, she was pretty sure that they both fell asleep. So how exactly had they gotten from there to here? Not to mention where here was.

Taking a deep breath, Emily ran her fingers through her blonde hair, trying not to hyperventilate. "Okay, Em," she muttered, "take deep breaths. You can figure this out."

Hearing a particularly loud groan coming from the bathroom again, she sighed. Probably the best thing—for right now, anyway—was to go see who was in the bathroom. It might be a long shot, but maybe that could answer some questions . . . or not, but it was better than just sitting around, trying to figure out something that she was never going to figure out anyway.

With that decided, Emily got up and walking over to the bathroom. It took her a few minutes to work how to open the door, finally finding the thumbprint on the side of the door, and it slid open, revealing a blond guy with his head in the toilet, just as the cat-girl had predicted, puking his guts out.

"Hey," she said, squatting down beside him, "you okay?"

He just groaned and she sighed, getting up to get him a glass of water and what looked like some medicine from the counter.

Hoping very much that this was Advil or something close to it, Emily handed them both to him. "Here, take these," she told him.

Bright side, she thought, this probably was just a dream anyway, so whatever they were probably wouldn't kill him.

"Thanks," the guy muttered, finally looking up at her with a pair of intense, bright blue eyes, though they looked slightly sluggish due to hangover.

A small gasp escaped from her as she stared down at him, though too soft for him to notice as he took the pills and water from her, downing them both in one gulp. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, even with her own eyes.

Sitting on the floor of her bathroom was none other than one certain James T. Kirk.


	2. Joni's Awakening

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Two: Joni's Awakening

_Deedle-let, deedle-let-let-let… Deedle-let, deedle-let-let-let… Deedle-let, deedle-let-let-let…_

"Yeah . . . yeah. . . . All right!" Joni said louder every time as she woke up to the communicator chirp on her phone. She didn't remember setting her ringtone as the Star Trek communicator, but it was in her phone somewhere. Someone was calling her.

She reached out her hand, feeling for her phone which was usually under her pillow. It wasn't there. Instead she noticed how different her pillowcase, comforter, and bed sheets were. They smelled strongly of detergent and were stiff like they had been cleaned by industrial strength chemicals; the kind they used in hotels after a guest leaves.

This was not Joni's bed. Granted she had only laid claim to her dorm bed at the university for only a week now, she had brought her own sheets and comforter from home. Familiarity and comfort were very important to Joni.

_Deedle-let, deedle-let-let-let…_

Frustrated Joni sat up in the unfamiliar bed and blinked. It was almost completely dark except for a soft pulsing green light at the foot of the bed. Reaching for it, she found it was a tablet of some sort, simply made of glass and a metal handle. Under the pulsing green light that floated on the glass floated the green words: incoming call. She hesitated, but after another chirp from the device, she touched the glass where it pulsed.

The light expanded over the glass into a full colored screen and before her was an image of Zachary Quinto, in all his Vulcan and Spock glory.

"Cadet Joan," he started, revealing that it was more than an image.

_Joan?_ No one called her Joan. Sure her birth certificate had the name Joan written out on it, but for as long as she could remember everyone, even her family, called her Joni.

Quinto raised his brow in his Spock way. "Cadet Joan, I expected you to be awake by now. Your Plasma Physics course is at ten-hundred hours. You have twenty-three minutes."

Joni stared at the screen like she was watching a YouTube video, not saying anything. It was simply a video; it had to be. Or she was still asleep and this was just an exceptionally vivid dream. She did often have vivid dreams; some even of Star Trek. However most of her Star Trek dreams were of Next Generation. She had never had a dream of the new Star Trek.

"We are still not on speaking terms," Spock said emotionlessly as he glanced away from his screen. He was silent for a moment, tightening his lips in almost disappointment, but not quite. When he looked back at the screen, he gave a firm look with his brown eyes. "Cadet Joan, your presence is required in my office at fifteen-hundred hours. I expect," he emphasized, "for you to be on time. And dressed." His eyebrow lifted again.

It was then that Joni realized she was in her underwear, and Spock could see her like that, leaning over the glass tablet in nothing but a bra and boyshorts, staring down at him. Before she could say anything, the screen minimized and Spock disappeared.

She quickly decided it didn't matter; this was all just a dream, and once she came to that mindset, she jumped up ready to play along.

"Lights," she called out, expecting the lights to come on. When the room illuminated, she smiled and pushed her long hair out of her face, stopping when she began to tuck the strand behind her ear. She touched the top of her ear again and froze—her ear was not round.

No. It curved into a point.

Searching the room, obviously a dorm and almost the exact duplicate of the one seen at Starfleet Academy in the 2009 Star Trek movie, Joni ran into what was the bathroom. In the mirror, she stared at herself with her brown eyes and pulled her hair back. She gasped as she traced her finger over the pointy edges of her ears, but it wasn't a gasp of surprise; more like a gasp mixed with disbelief and excitement.

She let out a laugh as she came out of the bathroom to examine her surroundings more closely. There was another bed on the other side of the room, empty and completely made like its occupant had already gotten up and left. Yet that entire side of the room was also untouched with no personal effects of any kind. Did Joni not have a roommate?

Maybe not, but the two things that were certain to Joni in this strange dream of hers were:

a) she was a Vulcan.

And . . .

b) she was a cadet at Starfleet Academy.

* * *

After a few minutes of fiddling with the glass device in her dorm, Joni had figured out how to use it quite efficiently. It was a lot like any tablet used in the real world. Except the operating system was clearly different and instead of the internet, the tablet connected to the Starfleet database. It gave her access to almost every piece of information she could hope for in a dream where the world was completely unfamiliar.

Okay, so maybe not completely unfamiliar. Joni knew a thing or two about Star Trek, and secretly, she did consider herself a Trekker—not Trekkie. All though, she never understood why some fans found the term Trekkie to depreciative. Trekkies were supposedly the crazy ones; Trekkers were the rational ones. It didn't make one bit of difference to her. A greater appreciation for Star Trek should be all that mattered.

In any case, any Trekker or Trekkie would have a panic attack if they were holding what Joni was holding in her hands; the glass tablet was a goldmine to any Star Trek fan.

In the end, after Joni had put on her red cadet uniform, it had taken her far more than twenty-three minutes to get ready. The cadet uniform was somewhat of a puzzle and she did have to play with the glass tablet before she found a map of Starfleet Academy in the database. It was the first dream that she had to work so hard to get where she needed to go.

Eventually she looked suitable for making her way across the academy. She looked better than cosplay and had even spent an extra ten minutes on her hair, putting it up into a bun to Starfleet standards; which she looked up on her tablet along with codes of conduct. Joni was already going to be late, so she figured she would take her time before leaving the dorm.

She left her dorm with her trusty tablet in hand, headed not for her class, but willing to do some good old fashion exploring; it wasn't every night that you went to bed and dreamed of Starfleet Academy. She decided she would start with the area listed on her tablet as the Central Quad. It was between the Command School and Medical School. Her quarters were apparently not far from either, which was well-off—Starfleet Academy was enormous.

It was upon entering the Central Quad that Joni saw and immediately recognized Captain Kirk. But it wasn't Captain Kirk. It was Cadet Kirk and he was in a red uniform like the hundred others walking to and from the buildings. He was standing and talking to another person she recognized: Leonard McCoy. Or better known as Bones—just Bones. How she recognized the both of them among the mass of red, she did not know, but she suddenly got the instinct to turn around and walk the opposite direction when Kirk made eye contact with her, brushed past Bones, and started jogging in her direction.

"Oh, no you don't," he hollered, catching up to Joni. "You can't get away that easily. You stood me up, Miss Vulcan."

Joni stopped, turned, and diagnosed Kirk. His eyes were a beautiful bright blue, but his face was sporting a few scratches and bruises. They looked fairly fresh, but she could tell that someone had done their best to patch him up. Yet the glassiness of Kirk's eyes also told Joni that he may be hung-over.

"I thought Vulcans couldn't tell lies," Kirk said with a smirk. "Do you have any idea what happened when you didn't show up last night? A few of my Tactical buddies caught up with me. I had no choice but to get more acquainted them."

"We had a date?" Joni asked very un-Vulcanly.

Bones now walked up to the two of them and Kirk gave him a side-glance and a chuckle before saying, "Can you believe this? I get stood up by a Vulcan and all she says is "We had a date?""

Bones critically looked down at Joni. "You were going to go out with this man?" indicating Kirk with a nod. "You have questionable taste for a Vulcan. Any _human_ who goes out with this half-excuse of a decent guy has questionable taste, too."

"Thanks, Bones." Kirk responded sarcastically, lightly taking Joni by the arm and away from Bones.

"So are you going to help me, or not?" he whispered, leaning in close to Joni when they were out of reach of Bones. Kirk sounded desperate, though; not interested in romantics at all.

Joni looked back at Bones, who is shaking his head and walking away, before looking back and Kirk. "What was it that you needed my help with?" she said un-Vulcanly again. To Joni's knowledge, Vulcans didn't ask questions that sounded so stupid, but Joni really had no idea what was going on. This was a dream after all.

"The test," Kirk declared. "Are you really trying to play it off as you never saying you would help me find a way to beat your brother's test?"

"Wow, this is some weird dream," Joni blurted. She wasn't very good at this role-playing a Vulcan thing. "I mean I've had dreams with you in it before, but not this version of you. Your eyes are so puppy-dog-like. How could anyone say no to you?"

"Wait, wait." Kirk started to laugh. "You have dreams about me? Is that why you stood me up; because you actually like me?" He smiled like he was flattered. "I have to admit, I've never considered pursuing a Vulcan before."

"I'm not into the Kirk-types," Joni daringly replied. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the truth either. How was it that her roommate Emily described him: handsome, street-smart, and an intelligent rebel without a cause. That made Kirk sound perfect, but Joni knew he was one disaster after another—one beautiful and dangerous, but also extremely lucky man.

Kirk flashed another smile. "Am I famous now?"

"You said my brother's test," Joni suddenly realized.

"Yeah," Kirk eyed Joni suspiciously. "You know, the other you," he teased. "The one with equally as pointy ears, but shorter hair and a more cocky and pretentious attitude than a Vulcan can account for. I mean, I've never met the guy, but I've heard academy stories from his students. Instructor Spock, or Commander, or whatever he is."

Kirk didn't notice that Joni was dumbfounded. Joni had gone to a completely different place. It was more than surprise, it was complete _geekdom_. She had awoken in her dream as Spock's sister.

"It's amazing that you two are twins. You are nothing like how I picture him," Kirk went on.

_Twin sister!_ Joni was Spock's twin sister. It was more than Joni could handle. She started walking away with the one thought that she needed to go back to bed.

Kirk caught up to her again and apologized. "I didn't mean to offend… I guess you call it your Vulcanality."

Joni chuckled at that one, but then decidedly, and in a very Vulcanly manner, said, "I cannot help you cheat on the Kobayashi Maru."

"Cheat? Who said anything about cheating?" Kirk insisted. "I just want a few pointers. Look, Joan, wasn't it? Your brother's test seems to be the cheat. Or did he program a way to beat it? …Or not?" He stared at Joni with his puppy-dog eyes, looking utterly hopeless—beaten up, but determined.

"I'm going to say this extra slow to make sure you understand." Joni smiled at Kirk—a very un-Vulcan thing to do. It seemed to scare Kirk too, because he returned a puzzling frown. "I. _Cannot_. Help you …cheat," Joni finished.

She now carefully watched Kirk as he stared at her with an intense thinking face. It didn't take long for a twinkle to appear in his eyes. He knew exactly what he had to do.

**AN:** Okay, guys, I am severely disappointed by the lack of reviews. I mean, I know that there are people reading this because we got followers, but nobody can take two minutes to tell us what you think of this? Come on, pretty please with sugar on top? If you don't wanna be nice to me, then please be nice to my best friend. This is her first fanfiction, guys, give her a break!

Pretty please? Press that review button?

Lady Dawson


	3. Dream or Reality?

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Three: Dream or Reality?

Green eyes wide with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and confusion, Emily stared down at Jim Kirk as he fought to push himself into a sitting position. It took her a full minute to move, but when she did, she helped him lean against the bathtub, still looking as though he might throw up at any given moment.

This was a dream; that had to be it. There was just no freaking way that this was real, because she couldn't go to sleep watching Star Trek and then wake up in that world.

Seriously, even if it _were_ possible, of all the worlds that she had to get stuck in, how could it be the one that she barely had any interest in?

Okay, sure, the 2009 movie was good and yes, Chris Pine was definitely hot and his character of Jim Kirk she absolutely loved, but . . . well, she'd still be stuck in Star Wars than Star Trek any day of the week.

Oh, who was she kidding? This wasn't real; she wasn't stuck in some fictional world. That was _ridiculous_, even for her. Sure, Emily was imaginative and tended to stray a little too far from reality sometimes, but the idea that she could just up and vanish from her world to a fictional one was . . . well, crazy. There was no other word for it. It was impossible and insane and a thousand other words that all meant the same thing. No way was this real.

Which meant that either she was losing her mind completely and/or she was merely dreaming; Emily quite preferred the first one.

"Em?"

Yanking herself out of her thoughts, Emily returned her attention back to Jim to find him peering up at her with those bright blue eyes of his, which had all the signs of a decent beating over it, leading Emily to think that maybe the cat-girl wasn't wrong and he had come here following a bar brawl.

Taking a deep breath, Emily flashed him with a smile. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" he asked, genuinely sounding concerned.

Emily managed a weak laugh. "You're asking me if _I'm_ okay, when you're the one on the floor of my bathroom hung over and looking like somebody used your face as a punching bag?" Somehow, talking to him like that felt natural, like she'd been doing it all her life. Vaguely, she remembered cat-girl saying something about him being her best friend. Huh, maybe it some reality, she _had_ been doing it all her life.

Dream, Em, she told herself sternly. This is just a dream. This is not real, okay? Quit thinking that it is.

Jim made a face at her. "Well, I'm not the only one," he retorted. She blinked, standing up and taking a good look in the mirror.

"Huh, will you look at that?" she observed, noting the slight bruising around her own face. "You should see the other girl."

"Funny," Jim drawled. "If I remember right—which I'm pretty sure I do—it was three guys, all of which were two times your size. When are you gonna learn, Em, that you should really pick on people closer to your size? Course," he added with a grin, "only people your size are leprechauns."

Emily turned back to him with a scowl. "Remind me why I'm friends with you?"

"Because you like my looks?"

"Is it possible for your ego to get any bigger?"

"Yeah, it's possible," he replied as he struggled to stand up, but Emily just pushed him onto the toilet. "Hey, come on! I've got stuff to do," he complained, trying again to get up, but Emily was stronger than he was at the moment, pushing him right back down and giving him a look that he quailed under.

"Do not push it," she warned him. "Just give me five minutes to patch you up and then you can go running like a chicken with your head cut off. Now where did I put that first aid kit?" she mumbled, more to herself than to him.

But that didn't stop Jim from replying, "It's underneath the sink, remember? You put it there after the last time."

Emily blinked, then walked right over to the sink, retrieving a first aid kid and opening it up, gulping at the futuristic materials that lay inside. No way was she going to be able to patch him up with _these_, not knowing what they were for.

Fortunately, though, there was some stuff in there than looked close to what she was used to using, so she went straight for those, applying them gingerly to the scratches and bruises scattered across his face. He winced visibly and she bit her lip.

"Sorry . . ."

"It's okay," he sighed. "Besides, still rather have you patching me up than Bones; at least you're not giving me a hard time."

"Oh, I can give you a hard time," Emily said at once. "No problems with that. I will be more than happy—"

"Em . . ." he moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please, I have a headache."

"Well, that will teach you not to drink so much," she suggested, receiving a withering look in reply.

"Do you know me at all?"

The obvious answer—to Emily, at least—was no. She didn't know this guy in front of her, except from a two and a half hour movie. But she didn't _know_ him know him.

But he, of course, did not know that. This was a very strange dream that she was having, Emily thought. For the moment, she decided, the best thing to do was just to play along. Maybe she would wake up in a few minutes to find herself lying in her own bed, in her dorm, with Joni already up and making coffee.

"Sorry I got you into that whole thing," Jim interrupted her thoughts, looking sheepish. "You know . . . with those Tactical guys, at the bar last night . . ."

"Don't even worry about it," Emily sighed. "Besides, who's gonna bail you out of trouble if I'm not around?" She paused, starting to wonder what exactly had happened last night to get both of them in such a state anyway. "So who was the girl?"

Jim tried to look innocent. "What girl?"

"The girl you were there for," she said lightly. She'd gotten the impression he was a womanizer from the movie, which didn't explain how she ended up his best friend. It was strange. "Who was it?"

"Nobody," he said, far too quickly. "It was nobody."

"Right . . ."

A small grin spread across his face and he admitted, "Okay, so maybe it was that Vulcan chick . . . Joan, is that her name?"

"Joan?" Emily echoed, bewildered. She couldn't remember any other Vulcan in the movie other than Spock, but maybe it was just a side character that the movie hadn't really dived into.

But Joan seemed like an awfully _human_ name for a Vulcan . . .

"Yeah, you know, the sister of the one who runs the Kobayashi Maru," he replied. Emily's fingers paused briefly while patching him up, a tremor going through her body.

"You mean Commander Spock?" she sought to clarify.

"Yeah, that's the guy," he agreed. "His sister's one fine looking lady, if I do say so myself . . ."

"I didn't realize that he had a sister," she said, trying to keep her tone as innocent as possible while her mind buzzed.

One thing she was sure of; Spock didn't have a sister. Surely, the movie would have made some mention of _that_. And there was no way she would just dream up a character like that. Dreaming about herself as Jim Kirk's best friend was one thing—though she had to admit, if she was going to dream about him, she wouldn't have picked the best friend angle—but Spock having a sister was something else.

"Yeah, well, doesn't matter," he said. "She stood me up."

"What a shocker," Emily mumbled and he gave her a playful push. She shook her head, replacing the medical supplies. "All right, I'm all done. You're free to go," she joked.

Jim mock-saluted her. "Yes, Officer," he teased, getting up and walking past Emily towards her dorm room, retrieving his jacket and shoes, which were lying on the opposite side of her bed, hidden from her roommate. "So, where's Katherine?"

"Who?"

"Kat?" he reminded with a laugh. "You know, your roommate of three years? And you think I'm dense sometimes."

"You are dense sometimes," she retorted. "Um . . . she left . . ." But at least she knew what to call the cat-girl.

Okay, seriously, Katherine or Kat for the cat-girl? How messed up was that?"

Jim eyed her as he pulled on his jacket with some difficulty. "Are you sure you're okay?" he wanted to know. "You just seem . . . I don't know, you seem a little out of it. You sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Emily lied. "Just, uh . . . a weird dream, that's all." And that, she thought, wasn't entirely a lie. "And severe lack of caffeine talking," she added.

"That's a good point," Jim agreed. "You without any coffee is a dangerous combination. Come on," he said, "I'll buy you a coffee." She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off before she could utter a sound. "No arguing; especially since you got your pretty face all messed up for me last night."

Emily shook her head. "Oh, my gods, you are such a charmer," she mocked. "Fine, just, uh . . . just let me get changed."

"Fine," he said with a shrug. "I should probably stop by my dorm anyway. I'll meet you in the Central Quad in twenty?"

Nodding once and giving him a smile that didn't exactly feel forced, Emily agreed, "Sure, I'll be there."

* * *

It her a lot longer than she planned on to get ready, mostly because the red uniform that she was supposed to wear was a lot harder to put on than it looked like. And seriously, a skirt? Emily _detested_ any kind of skirt; she barely even wore dresses and when she did, it was usually under force.

But there was nothing else in her closet, except for a few "civilian" clothes, she supposed was the term, and as long as she was here, it was probably best to blend in.

"Well, that sucks," Emily muttered as she managed to zip up the skirt, pulling on a pair of combat boots that she found nearby. "This is _my_ dream, you would think that I would be able to wear what I want."

The worst part about the wardrobe, she discovered with a scowl, was that her favorite jacket was nowhere to be found. She had worn that day practically every day since her dad died when she was twelve. There wasn't much she could do about it until she woke up, though, and not much time to dwell on it, as she was already running late to meet Jim.

Central Quad, he'd told her, but there was just a little problem with that; she had absolutely _no_ idea where that was or how to get there. Emily inwardly groaned; she had to get stuck in a fictional world, it would be nice if she had a how-to manual or something. Or maybe a map; yeah, a map would be nice.

It was only then that Emily noticed a tablet sitting on a desk. Judging from the clutter that was reminiscent of her desk back home, she guessed it was hers.

With a frown, she picked it up, inspecting it carefully. It came to life at her touch and she worked her way through it, managing to access . . . what was it, Starfleet database? Yes, that was it, she thought, trying to remember as she stumbled across her own file , going through it absently. Her hands stilled as she came across her bio information.

It was the same, she thought, utterly shocked, her hands trembling ever so slightly. Emily Rose Conner, parents Alicia and Dean Conner, her dad listed as deceased, born on June 30th in Iowa . . . the only thing that _had_ changed was the year. Instead of '92, it was listed as 2234.

"Okay, this is starting to freak me out," she muttered as she pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. She closed her bio information, not wanting to read any more. "There has got to be a map on here somewhere . . . bingo!" she exclaimed triumphantly, managing to pull up a map of the campus. Luckily, it also had her dormitory, which wasn't that far from Central Quad.

Heaving a sigh of relief, she picked up the tablet on her way out the door. She still wasn't convinced that this wasn't a dream, but clearly, she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, so she might as well play along. Besides, that tablet was her only source of information, so she wasn't going to leave without it.

She managed to get to the Central Quad without much difficulty, keeping a close watch out for Jim, though how she was supposed to pick him out in this sea of red, Emily had no idea. Every guy with blond hair, she glanced in their direction, but she didn't hear someone call her name until she was near the Medical Center.

"Emily!"

Turning around, she inwardly sighed in relief when she saw another person she recognized from the movie: Dr. McCoy. If she was friends with Jim, then she had to presume that she was friends with him too.

Giving him what she hoped was a convincing smile, she said, "Hey, Doc."

He made a face at her. "What have I told you about that nickname?"

"Hey, it works," she said, deeply relieved—not that he seemed to notice. "Seen Jim anywhere? I was supposed to meet him for coffee . . ."

"Yeah, he's back there talking to Cadet Joan," he replied. "You know, the Vulcan girl? Hey," he said suddenly, looking concerned as he suddenly got a good look at her. "What happened to your face? No, never mind," he said before she could reply, looking exasperated. "Don't tell me; I already know. Em, seriously, when are you going to stop getting into fights on his account?"

"He's my best friend," she replied, frantically trying to remember what McCoy's first name was. She could only remember Jim calling him 'Bones,' but she was pretty sure he was the only one to call him that. So what was his first name? _Come on, Em, think! What was it? Okay, it started with a . . . with an L. Yes, that was it. And it was an older name, I'm pretty sure . . . now what was it? Le . . . Leroy? No, that wasn't it . . . _"What else am I supposed to do?"

"Let him embarrass himself," McCoy responded without a blink. He sighed. "Well, Jim's back there; I really need to get to class." He paused. "Try to keep him out of trouble, will you? We both know that you're the only person that he'll actually listen to," he grumbled, shaking his head.

"I'll _try_," Emily replied with a smile. He sighed before heading off into the direction of the Medical Center.

Making her way in the direction McCoy had pointed her in, Emily indeed saw Jim talking to a Vulcan girl. Something about her dark hair seemed vaguely familiar to her as she turned away from Jim, walking off in the opposite direction.

"Once wasn't enough?" Emily asked, making Jim jump, turning around to look at her. "You wanted to get rejected _twice_?"

"I'll have you know, I was not getting rejected," he protested.

"Uh-huh, sure," Emily said lightly, punching him on the shoulder. "Come on, I need coffee and you promised me some. And on the way, you can tell me what you're up to," she added pointedly.

"Up to? What makes you think I'm up to anything?"

"Because you're James Tiberius Kirk," she replied dryly, green eyes filled with humor as she looked back at him.

"Ha, ha," he grumbled. "I'm not up to anything. I was just asking her for . . . some pointers, is all."

"Do I want to know what for?"

"I'm taking the test again," he explained.

"The Kobayashi Maru?" Emily asked, glad that he'd mentioned it earlier, otherwise she definitely would've forgotten the name. "What is this, the fourth, fifth time?"

"Third," he corrected, making a face at her. "And I want you there as my Chief Tactical Officer. Come on, Em; you know I can't do this without you." He gave her a pair of puppy dog eyes that she doubted that any girl would be able to resist. Unfortunately, she thought dryly, this also included her.

"Oh, how can I say no when you ask like that?" she replied, shaking her head. "So when are you planning on retaking it?"

"Tomorrow morning," he answered at once.

She shook her head. "What about Doc?" she asked, making a mental note to look up his name on the database later. "You gonna ask him too?"

"Sure," he agreed easily, "but there is no one I trust by my side more than you. I need you there," he insisted.

Emily swallowed as she looked into those bright blue eyes of his and, though she tried desperately to dispel it, she felt something stir within her, a feeling that she hadn't felt in almost four years.

"Sure," she said with what she hoped was a convincing smile. "I'll be there."

_ A feeling that I thought I'd never feel again._

**AN:**Guys, thank you _so_ much for the reviews! I really appreciate it. Oh, and just so you know, my best friend and partner in this story EssentiallyRei has created an account on here and posted her first fanfiction, so go check it out! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!


	4. Illogically Related

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter 4: Illogically Related

Joni survived a two hour class of Earth History, which was not only cool, but completely insane and inaccurate.

According to this history class, in the 1950s scientists on Earth began genetically engineering humans with enhanced senses and strength—basically they were super soldiers, Joni noted. These super humans were known as Augments. They were created in hopes that they would lead the world into an era of peace. Instead, the Augments' superiority to normal humans made them arrogant and aggressive. A series of conflicts with the Augments called the Eugenics Wars started in 1992—no clear explanation on how it all started. By 1996 over thirty million people had died and the world was almost sent into a new Dark Age.

Now, Joni was no noob to the differences in Star Trek history and real history, but she was deeply captivated by how real the Earth History class appeared and felt; she thought she must be deeply asleep. This was by far the most elaborate and vivid Star Trek dream she had ever had, down to the detail of someone nodding off and snoring beside her. It was amazing that her own mind could turn what she knew about Star Trek into a full-blown college-like class.

The Eugenics Wars was original Star Trek series stuff. It was also now a part of the new Star Trek movies because of Into Darkness. All though the specific history was never mentioned in the new movie, it was definitely still the basis for a certain someone who showed up in Into Darkness. Joni imagined that she would wake up before her elaborate dream got that far, but she also kind of wished it would stretch out that long. This dream was cool.

Swiping her fingers across her glass tablet, which had become her best friend since leaving her dorm room, Joni checked her class schedule. After Earth History she apparently had a free hour and half. She had half-purposely skipped her first class, Plasma Physics, which was two hours long like Earth History. It was now two-thirty in the afternoon, according to her tablet.

Earlier on she had spent the extra time from skipping exploring a portion of the beautiful Starfleet Academy grounds. The view of futuristic San Francisco from across the bay was breathtaking, and the skyline directly next to the academy was as equally as magnificent. Flying vehicles and transports were a common sight, and what would usually look like a cloud of pollution over a city was instead a heaven of perfect sky-blue and absorption. (Imagines a lens flare.) The clouds even looked cleaner.

It made Joni wish that she wasn't a 21st century gal. Why couldn't she have been born in the future? And would the future really look like this?

There was one interesting detail that Joni noticed as she walked around campus. The other cadets regarded Joni with an air of caution, like she was some kind of authoritative figure. When she was awing the sight of San Francisco with her mouth open, she caught one cadet staring at her with bewilderment. Other cadets would become serious or straighten their posture when she walked by. Did this have anything to do with her "twin brother" Spock? Or was Joni going about being a Vulcan all wrong, so everyone was eyeing her for it.

Thinking of Spock, Joni remembered she was supposed to meet him in his office at three. She started chuckling when she thought of what would happen if she was late. Her chuckles received more ogles from passersby—it had to be symbolism for some life-situation in the real world; Joni just couldn't figure it out.

It wasn't quite the fifteen-hundred hours yet, but she figured she might as well go now.

* * *

"Cadet Joan," Spock made brief eye contact with her as she entered the office. "I was not expecting you until fifteen-hundred hours. Have a seat," he said more pointedly before returning to the tablet in hand and typing with the other onto a glowing keypad that was a part of the glass surface of his desk. Every few seconds he would switch his attention from the tablet to the sophisticated computer on the desk that the _photonic_ keypad appeared to control.

Joni sat in a white chair in front of the desk and waited. It was fine that Spock was not paying attention to her because she was busy examining the detail to the office. Her dream was impressing her more and more.

The office was white and saturated with fluorescent lighting. The walls were corrugated with decorative white beams that had a holed pattern running up their spine and complimented the shiny, dark blue tiled floor that had a recurring white dot pattern. Naturally, the back wall was a large glass window with the view of one of Starfleet Academy's many lobbies, this one belonging to the Administration Building. Joni could see the large Starfleet Academy banners, past and current, hanging from the high lobby ceiling. (Imagines another lens flare.)

At the center of the office was Spock's glass desk, pristine and having no paraphernalia of any kind for the eyes to wander to.

Being in her red cadet uniform, Joni was the brightest object in the office. Even Spock was less colorful, wearing a black uniform, which she found was typical for Starfleet instructors. The other difference in their uniform was that she was wearing an uncomfortable skirt and knee-high boots.

As Joni's eyes deduced the simplicity of Spock's office, even though quite futuristic, her brown eyes eventually came back to Spock and locked with his brown eyes. It was surprising how much they actually looked alike, now that Joni thought about it. Dark hair—his black, hers almost black. Brown eyes—hers maybe a shade lighter. But they had the same complexion, too.

Yet, there was Joni's brow, which was much more human. Her eyebrows didn't point like a Vulcan's. Neither could Joni do the eyebrow thing that Spock would always do. Well, maybe if she practiced she could.

Spock was staring at her with his raised eyebrow now.

They stared at each other for a good minute; all the while Joni was at loss for words because she was secretly _geeking out_. She was practically in the presence of a celebrity. Was she going to be able to talk to him?

Finally Spock said, "Cadet, are you feeling all right?"

"Why are we not on speaking terms?" Joni exclaimed. She had been thinking about it all way to Spock's office, and she knew she had to say something. Otherwise she would continue to stare at him like an idiot.

"I believe it was you, who was not speaking to me," Spock answered matter-of-factly. "If you recall…" he paused to find the right wording. "You believed I was being unreasonable about your admission that it was Father who sent you to Earth to watch over me."

"I was sent to Earth to watch over you," Joni mimicked his tone. "By Sarek?"

Spock's eyes narrowed at her. She probably wasn't acting her typical Vulcan self. Plus, she just called their _"father"_ by his Earth name. His real name couldn't be pronounced by humans; just like Spock's real name.

_As a Vulcan, did she have a more Vulcan name too?_

"By your account… " Spock started slowly. "Yes. You claim you were sent to join Starfleet Academy by our _father's _request. Cadet, if you are having a lapse in memory perhaps you should seek medical—"

"And you didn't believe me!" Joni said enthusiastically as she was starting to understand. "I told you it was our father that sent me, and you didn't believe me. That makes sense," she said to herself. "Because it would be illogical for Sarek to be worried about you."

"Cadet Joan—"

"It's Joni," she corrected him. "Please call me Joni. I can't stand the tension behind my birth name Joan; especially coming from you. You make it sound so uptight." The face on Spock was one of disapproval; she had apparently gone over the line.

She knew she had gone over the line when Spock stood up and pulled what was probably a tricorder from his pocket, came around the desk, and started scanning her. "There is nothing unusual about your readings," he said after a moment. "With the exception of your heart rate being abnormally high."

"No sign of tachyon radiation?" Joni jested.

Spock took her question as serious, replying, "You are implying that there is a temporal displacement—"

"It was a joke," she immediately shot back at him.

He stopped any movement for a moment. Then he closed his tricorder and pocketed it. Putting his hands behind his back in a pondering way, he then walked to the window behind his desk and looked out at the view. "You are acting… "

"…Human," Joni finished for him.

He turned his head to look at Joni with his brow raised, replying with a simple, "Yes. More so than usual," he added as he took his seat back behind his desk. "Is this your attempt to get back at me?"

"For calling me a liar?" she said curiously.

"I do not recall calling you a liar," Spock defended himself in a straight tone.

"Neither do I," Joni answered truthfully. "There's something you should know," she continued. Now that she was brave enough to do some talking, it was time to do some role-playing. "I've been on Earth long enough to realize that I want to pursue my human side. I want to understand what it is to be human, Spock, like _our_ mother."

His look was impassive as he silently stared at her with calculating eyes, but Joni somehow knew that his silence meant his disapproval. He was silently and emotionlessly judging her declaration; the Vulcan wheels in his brain were going to see the decision to be more human as illogical. After all, Spock had chosen to be more Vulcan, despite his concern that he would offend his—"_our"_—mother.

"Are you seeking my approval, cadet?" he sounded almost hopeful.

"No," Joni said frigidly. She didn't appreciate being called cadet again and again when Spock was supposed to be her brother. It felt wrong. In fact, she felt slightly annoyed with him. "However, as my brother I would expect you to support my decision," she pushed the limits.

"I do not understand the desire to explore human emotions," he passed on, but Joni already knew this would be his response.

"What was the reason you called me to your office?" she changed the subject. She wasn't going to argue with him, not about being human anyway. It didn't seem like the _right_ time.

It amazed Joni how real her annoyance with Spock was getting. Outside this dream world, she was an only child. She had never had to deal with any kind of sibling rivalry. She had never had to share with or care about a sibling's opinion. Having a brother, and a twin at that, was an entirely new feeling for her. The feeling made her both embarrassed and scared. Embarrassed because she had no idea how to talk to a brother, and scared because this dream world was starting to feel all too real.

"A cadet by the name of James T. Kirk has submitted a request to take the Kobayashi Maru," Spock stated. He didn't seem to be obliging Joni's question. "It will be his third attempt. The test has already been scheduled for tomorrow morning…"

She felt it best to say nothing during Spock's pause

"I have become aware that Cadet Kirk has made contact with you," he said with a bit too much harshness, unless Joni was imagining it. "You are obligated to inform administration if Cadet Kirk has made an attempt to coerce you to help him _'beat the test'_ by dishonest means—as he may see that you are close to me, therefore you have vital information he can use. I hope I do not have to remind you that a few of the objectives of the test are for the participant to show the capacity for organized leadership and innovation."

"Among other things," Joni muttered under her breath. She was finding it hard not to be more and more annoyed with Spock.

"Cadet Kirk needs to undergo the process alone," Spock finalized. "Until he understands what the true principal of the test is."

"And he will," Joni raised her voice. "Kirk will pass _your_ test."

"I have no doubt that he will try again if he does not succeed this time," he said much too casually that it enraged Joni.

_Why wasn't Spock understanding?!_

Joni leaped up and laid her hands on Spock's desk, leaning towards him. "I think you're scared that he actually will beat your test."

"Impossible," Spock answered. His eyes were challenging Joni.

"Which one?!" she challenged back. "That he will beat the Kobayashi Maru, or that you're scared that he will?"

"Cadet Joan, perhaps you should sit down and control your emotions," Spock said with authority. "It is illogical to be so irrational. You are a Vulcan."

After a few seconds of grinding her teeth, Joni stood up straight and pulled a Picard Maneuver—tugging the bottom of her cadet jacket. "I remember why we're not on speaking terms now," she tried to say calmly, but it sounded cold. "You are impossibly full of yourself. I can't believe were related."

With that, Joni stormed out of Spock's office.

* * *

She was exhausted, overwhelmed, and looking forward to putting her head on the pillow in her Starfleet Academy dorm despite it not being _her_ real pillow. Her real pillow was back in her _real_ dorm and the _real_ world; and her head was already on that pillow wasn't it? Joni just knew that once she closed her eyes and went to sleep in this dream world, she would open her eyes in the real world feeling refreshed and ready for some good old fashioned American History, versus the two hour Advanced Interstellar-Travel Dynamics class she had just finished—definitely not a real class, because the instructor for the class was speaking gibberish, wasn't he?

It didn't matter. Joni was happy that on the other side of La-La Land was relief. She would wake up, make some vanilla flavored coffee, and then try explaining to her roommate Emily the fantastical Star Trek dream she had just had.

It was also too bad. Before Joni closed her eyes she thought about what it would be like to actually work on a starship.

However, surprisingly, her last thought before she drifted to sleep was how she would help Spock as his sister cope with his planet being destroyed. Or…

How would _she_ cope with _her_ planet being destroyed?


	5. The Kobayashi Maru

**Out of This**** World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Five: The Kobayashi Maru

It was still dark when Emily was roused by an annoying beeping next to her. Blindly, she reached over and managed to turn it off, but still refused to open her eyes, uncertain as to where she was going to wake up.

_ It was only a dream, Em,_ she told herself sternly, as though she could make herself believe it just by telling herself that. _That's all it was, a dream. You had a very vivid dream that you were in Star Trek and best friends with Jim Kirk, but that's all that it was. Now, it's time to wake up. You're going to open your eyes and you'll be in your own bed, in your own room, in your own dorm at the university. _She took a deep breath. _Okay, now open your eyes._

Obeying with a hint of trepidation, Emily forced her green eyes open, squinting into the dark room as she sat up, throwing her sheets aside while trying to find the lamp that sat on her nightstand.

Or, it usually did.

Emily bit her lip when she felt nothing there except for the alarm that she'd turned off a moment before. "Lights," she croaked and automatically, they came on.

She was still here.

She was still here at Starfleet Academy, in the dorm room that she'd woken up at yesterday, with the cat-girl Katherine lying on the other side of the room, though she had pushed her head underneath the pillow in order to ignore the light that now filled the room.

"Em . . ." she whined.

"Sorry," Emily muttered apologetically, remembering how Jim had dimmed the lights yesterday. "Lights to ten percent."

Automatically, they dimmed enough so that there was still enough so she could see by, but not enough so that Katherine could go back to sleep undisturbed. She mumbled something indistinctive, but judging by the soft breathing that followed, she had fallen back asleep almost immediately.

Emily watched her briefly for a moment before she looked around at her surroundings, falling back against the pillows. How could she still be here? This was just a dream; how could she still be here?

Last night, after Jim had taken off, she had assumed that when she went to sleep, she would wake up in her dormitory, with Joni, but apparently, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. And Emily wasn't quite sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Running her hands through her blonde curls, Emily reluctantly climbed off of her bed, stumbling over to her closet to retrieve the red uniform she had to wear, though she had to admit, she would much rather burn that wretched skirt than be forced to wear it again. Seriously, this was supposed to be in the future, so why did she have to wear a dress when she would much rather wear pants?

Emily sighed as she brushed her hair out, pulling it back into a ponytail before pulling on the uniform. It was still early, but Jim would be taking the Kobayashi Maru test sometime this morning and as she was supposed to be his Chief Tactical Officer, she definitely needed to get some coffee into her system before then.

Though how exactly she was supposed to act as his tactical officer when she had no idea what she was even doing was beyond her.

Oh, well, she thought as she shuffled out the door, picking up the tablet from her desk where she'd left it the night before on her way out. Like she'd done yesterday, she should just stumble her way through it.

Yeah, no way this can turn out wrong, she thought, biting her lip fretfully. Maybe she should have said no to Jim yesterday, so he could find someone else to do the tactical thing. It wasn't like she knew what she was doing and the last thing she wanted was to screw up his test. No matter what anyone else thought, he was actually a pretty decent guy. But it was a little late to back out now.

Making her way out of the dorm, Emily stepped out into the cool morning air onto the quiet Academy grounds. In the early hours, there was only a few people around, including that Vulcan girl that Emily had seen Jim talking to yesterday—Joan, was that what he called her?

She was sitting on the steps of the campus, consulting her tablet before getting up and walking in the opposite direction of where Emily was coming from, but Emily got the distinct feeling that she had seen her from somewhere before, but for the life of her, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Emily sighed; she'd figure that part out later. Right now, if she was going to get through this test, she was going to need some coffee.

Making her way in the direction of the café that Jim took her to yesterday, Emily ordered a coffee, taking a seat in one of the corners and opening up the tablet, trying to cram as much information that she could into her head. She'd managed to track down Dr. McCoy's bio information last night; his first name was Leonard, but somehow she thought that "Doc" suited him better.

Filtering through the Tactical stuff, Emily sipped her coffee just as a shadow passed over her and she looked up to see another familiar face looking down at her, but she was surprised to see the irritated look on Uhura's face.

"What exactly is Kirk up to?" she demanded without preamble.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how your friend taking the Kobayashi Maru again; do you know that I'm scheduled to be his Communications Officer?" Without waiting for her to reply, she continued, "And I know that he was talking to Sp—Commander Spock's sister yesterday; you can't tell me that he wasn't trying to coerce her into helping him."

"Look, Uhura," Emily said, glad that she remembered her name, "it is way too early for any kind of conversation like this and by the way, I don't know what you're talking about."

"So you don't know what he's up to?"

"I think that he's going to take that test until he passes it," Emily said with an extreme amount of patience.

"Cheating isn't exactly passing."

"Except that the test by definition is a cheat," Emily replied, folding her arms onto the table, cocking an eyebrow at the taller girl. "It puts you into a no-win situation and Jim isn't exactly the kind of person who believes in no-win situations. Trust me when I say, if there's a way out, then you can bet that James Kirk is going to find his way out. Anyway," she added, "who said anything about cheating?"

Uhura scowled down at her. "You know, the rest of us actually do have better things to do than to sit through his simulation for a third time."

"So don't do it," Emily replied flatly, getting a little annoyed with her. "Nobody's forcing you to be his Communications Officer. By the way," she added, "who told you that Jim was talking to Joan?"

Her cheeks reddened as she straightened, continuing to glare down at Emily. "That's none of your business."

"Right," Emily said cockily, "so it didn't happen to be a certain Vulcan who happens to run the Kobayashi Maru?"

Looking shocked, Uhura took a step back from her, her lips pierced tightly together before she turned on her heel and walked away from Emily, who instantly felt bad. Sure, the translator or whatever she was called was the one who came up and started in on her, but she still felt bad for returning fire.

Uhura was halfway out the door when she turned back to Emily, her dark eyes somehow even darker.

"By the way," she added curtly, "would you mind telling Kirk not to hook up with my friends? He was with Galia last night," she added coldly before turning on her heel and walking out the door.

Emily closed her eyes as it shut behind her; even though she'd already known that, she didn't particularly like how much that fact bothered her.

Glancing down at her tablet again, Emily took a deep breath and returned to what she'd been doing before, trying to cram as much Tactical information into her head before Jim's test, but now she was also trying to stop herself from thinking about Uhura and what exactly she'd done to make the girl hate her so much.

* * *

"We are receiving a distress signal from the U.S.S. Kobayashi Maru," Uhura reported from her station during the simulation. "The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them."

"'Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them . . . _Captain_," Jim corrected her, shooting a grin at Emily, who just rolled her eyes at him from her station, but unable to suppress a small smile back at him.

"Show-off," she muttered. He did his best to keep a straight face.

"Two Klingon vessels have entered the Neutral Zone and are locking weapons on us," McCoy reported from where he was sitting.

"That's okay," Jim said easily.

"That's okay?" McCoy echoed, glancing in Emily's direction, but the blonde was too busy attempting to "pretend" to know what she was doing.

Actually, that wasn't quite true, Emily realized as her fingers flew across the keypads, her heart pounding in anticipation. Her hands acted as though they knew what to do, even if her brain didn't. And some small part of her brain understood what the screens were telling her, making Emily relax slightly; at least she didn't have to get through this on sheer luck.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Jim told him, bright blue eyes more amused than worried.

"Three more Klingon warbirds decloaking and targeting our ship," McCoy added, "I don't suppose that this is a problem either?"

"They're firing, Captain," Emily reported, keeping a close watch on the screens, amazed at how effortlessly she actually knew what she was doing.

"Alert Medical Bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship," Jim told Uhura, who just stared at him in exasperation.

"And how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons, _Captain_," she all but spat at him.

Jim just turned in his chair, looking directly at her without a blink. "Alert Medical," he repeated softly. She scowled, but turned around to obey.

"Our ship's being hit," Emily told him, "Shields at sixty percent."

"I understand."

"Shouldn't we, oh I don't know, fire back?" McCoy demanded.

"No."

"Of course not," he muttered under his breath.

Emily suppressed a small snigger, keeping her gaze locked on the screen in front of her as her fingers flew across the keypads. Even though she knew it was going to happen—was prepared for it—it still startled her when the screens started acting up, shutting down briefly before starting back up again.

Wearing a smug smile as he bit into his apple, Jim ordered, "Arm photons, prepare to fire on the Klingon warbirds."

"Yes, sir," Emily said dryly, giving him a sharp look. He was looking way too smug; she was definitely going to have to take him down a peg or two when they got out of here.

"Jim, their shields are still up," McCoy hissed at him, looking a tad irritated and exasperated as he glanced at the "captain."

"Are they?"

McCoy opened his mouth to retort, but turned back towards the screen, a disbelieving look making its way across his face. "No," he said slowly, "they're not."

"Fire on all enemy ships," Jim commanded. "One photon each should do. Let's not waste ammunition."

"Target locked and acquired on all warbirds," Emily informed him as her fingers flew across the keypad. "Firing." She glanced towards the viewing screen, where the Klingon ships in front of them were being blown to pieces in front of them, before returning her gaze to her screen. "All ships destroyed, Captain."

"Begin rescue of the stranded crew," Jim replied. "So, we've managed to eliminate all enemy ships, no one onboard was injured, and the successful rescue of the Kobayashi Maru is underway."

* * *

"So," Emily said as they left the simulation, "you still gonna tell me you're not up to something?"

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked all too innocently.

Emily shook her head at him. "Dude, seriously, if you're gonna try to get away with something, the least you can do is pretend like you didn't know what was going on, instead of acting all smug and having that look on your face."

"What look?"

"That famous Kirk look," Emily said sarcastically, "you know, the one that says 'ha, in your face, I got away with it.'"

"There's a look?"

"You can't miss it," Emily told him with a grin. "Seriously, Jim, there's no way that you're gonna get away with this. What did you even do anyway? Reprogram the simulation or something?"

He just grinned. "Well . . . let's just say that I had a little bit of help," he replied, wrapping an arm around her. "Come on, let's go celebrate my being the first person to ever actually pass the Kobayashi Maru."

Emily sighed. "Dead man walking," she informed him.

"What's life without a little risk?" he pointed out, turning to walk backwards as he faced her as Uhura walked past them, giving both of them an evil eye before she headed down the hallway, out of sight. "What's her problem?"

"You know, it might have been just a little bit obvious that you did something on the test," Emily replied with a sigh. "Plus, she knew something was up; she all but attacked me at the café this morning. I needed coffee," she whined as Jim gave her a knowing look.

"Yeah, I know, which I deeply appreciate, by the way," Jim told her. "You looked a little jittery when we started; I was worried you didn't have any caffeine."

"Right, because I'm gonna get up this early and _not_ have any caffeine in my system," Emily said sardonically. "So where are we having your last meal?"

"Oh, so little faith you have in me," Jim complained.

Not even two seconds later, a voice came over the intercom, echoing across campus, "All cadets, please report to the Assembly Hall for an emergency session. All cadets to the Assembly Hall, please."

Emily turned to look at Jim, eyebrows raised. "You were saying?"

**AN:** Okay, guys, I am severely disappointed by the lack of reviews on the last chapter. I'm sorry, I know I keep whining about reviews, but I am addicted to reviews and unfortunately, there's no rehab program for it, so if you could please, please, PLEASE just review this chapter and the last one, I will be happy. Please? Pretty please with chocolate on top? Thank you so much.

Lady Dawson


	6. Luck of the Draw

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter 6: Luck of the Draw

_Another day at Starfleet Academy…_

Joni sat on the stairs of the Academy grounds in her cadet uniform holding her tablet closely to her, staring into the yonder. She was shaking, but it wasn't coffee that was making her so jittery. Joni had in fact promised herself that as soon as she came out of whatever deep slumber, or virtual reality, or whatever it was that put her in the Star Trek world, she was going to quit coffee, for good. Until then, she was here, subject to the rules of this fictional world.

_And it had to be the day of Vulcan's destruction._

This was why she was so jittery. Very soon Kirk would be taking the Kobayashi Maru. And very soon after, all cadets would be summoned to a hearing to determine Kirk's responsibility for "cheating" on the test. The hearing would be interrupted, all cadets would be assigned to a starship, and…

Joni shuddered at the thought of being caught up in all the action. She wanted to maintain that this was her dream, so things would go her way; or if they didn't, she would wake up safe and sound in her dormitory bed. However, now she wasn't so sure.

She had even pulled off the unthinkable when she had awoken for the second time in her Starfleet Academy dorm. She had gone into the bathroom and purposely cut herself on a razor in the shower. What surprised her more than the fact that her blood came out green, was the fact of how much it had hurt. It was real pain, not some subconsciously made spasm, like when you wake up with a charley horse in their leg. That's what Joni was expecting—to wake up squirming because she had cut herself in a dream. That's not what happened.

Green blood and real pain is what happened.

_Reality is slipping_, Joni thought before looking down at her tablet. But there was one thing she was determined to do before reality slipped away from her for good. Before all hell broke loose, she was going to start a personal log, one that would describe the Joni from a different time and a different universe. It was all she could do before she lost herself.

She stretched her fingers out, opened a blank log, and began tapping away…

* * *

The Assembly Hall was chaos until instructors told cadets to take their seats. It just so happened that Joni was seated next to Gaila, Kirk's latest heartbreak. The green girl looked pissed and was already sitting with her arms crossed like she knew what was up; and she probably did know what was up. The subroutine Kirk installed into the Kobayashi Maru would have been tracked and pinpointed to a letter from Kirk that he had asked Gaila to open during the exam. Kirk had used Gaila and she knew it.

_Smooth_, Joni thought as she avoided eye contact with surrounding cadets. She was very uncomfortable sitting in a room full of people that she knew would be dead in the next two hours. It was like being encircled by ghosts. Yet she still managed to recognize a few people from class, as well as Cadet Uhura who was sitting only a couple of seats away from Gaila.

"This session has been called to resolve a troubling matter," the Admiral informatively called out after everyone was seated and assembly bell chimed. It was time.

Joni looked to where she knew Kirk would be sitting, and when she did she about jumped out of her seat. It was enough of a reaction to get Gaila to momentarily turn to look at her and then to the direction that Joni was looking. Sitting next to Kirk was McCoy, but on Kirk's other side was—_Could it be?!_

It was Emily—from the real world. There was no mistaking her sharp green eyes that went with her seemingly permanent and characteristic gaze of hopefulness. Her curly blond hair was tied back and she was wearing, like every cadet, a red uniform. Emily's hopeful gaze was fixed onto Kirk as they were silently chuckling over something.

"James T. Kirk, step forward," the Admiral summoned Kirk and their chuckling immediately ceased. They both became serious and Emily's hopeful gaze broke, becoming anxious the moment Kirk stood.

As Kirk made his way to the podium, Admiral Barnett continued saying, "Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting that you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to regulation 17.43 of the Starfleet code." Once Kirk was at the podium, the Admiral said, "Is there anything you care to say before we begin, Sir?"

Kirk tightened his eyes in thought before answering, "Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly."

Everyone's attention, except Joni's, moved to the body of an instructor that stood up. Joni didn't need to look to know that it was Spock, who would straighten his shirt before making his way to the podium once the Admiral asked him to step forward. This scene, the assembly and Kirk's hearing, was all but burned to Joni's memory. She had watched it a hundred times.

"This is Commander Spock," the Admiral expectedly relayed. "He is one of our most _distinguished_ graduates. He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru exam for the last four years," he said accusingly. Spock and Kirk then made their bitter eye contact of rivals. The Admiral permitted Spock to speak first with, "Commander?"

"Cadet Kirk," Spock started with no hesitation, "you somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code, thereby changing the conditions of the test." He said the majority of it to the board, not even looking at Kirk.

Joni found herself looking at neither Kirk nor Spock. She continued to look in the direction of Emily, wondering if there was a way to get her attention in the middle of the assembly. Was it really her roommate, or was the arrival of Emily just an addition to Joni's slipping mind?

… "In academic vernacular, you cheated."

Joni looked at the Admiral. She never understood why the Admiral's choice of words at this point included vernacular. It threw her off because it sounded pretentious. It was a good word, but it just sounded harsh when said to Kirk.

"Let me ask you something," here was Kirk's response aimed at Spock; "I think we all know the answer to. The test itself is a cheat, isn't it? You programmed it to be unwinnable."

"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario," Spock was as confident as ever. Joni just imagined what her response would be if she was the one facing Spock at the podium. Her choice of vocabulary would include the words _pain_, _in_, and _ass_. Probably not a Vulcan response, she inwardly pointed out to herself.

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios," of course was the real response—Kirk was a natural at debates. Maybe Joni would have a chance to congratulate Kirk for saying those words.

"Then not only did you violate the rules," Spock said as Joni stole another glance at Emily. She looked about ready to stand and take Spock down. "You also failed to understand the principle lesson."

"Please, enlighten me."

"_Words of death_," Joni whispered, but Gaila heard her and glanced her way again. Joni was growing more anxious by the second, and she slightly sank into her chair deathly avoiding Gaila's stare. Was Gaila assigned to the Enterprise? Joni couldn't remember.

"You of all people should know, Cadet Kirk, a captain cannot cheat death."

_Such a low blow!_ Joni screamed to herself as murmurs spread through the assembly hall. Anyone who knew Kirk, or knew of him, knew what Spock was referring to. Gaila even lost a bit of her anger hearing Spock's words. You don't pull the daddy card; it's cruel.

If Spock only knew that the destruction of his planet was so close. He wouldn't be acting like such a prat towards Kirk. Yet, maybe he still would. He did think himself an emotionless Vulcan after all.

"I of all people?" Kirk asked dismally.

"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, assumed command of his vessel before being killed in action, did he not?"

"—I don't think you like the fact that I beat your test," Kirk quickly inserted.

"_Furthermore_, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test," it sounded like Spock didn't like being interrupted.

Joni was feeling sick now and the absence of the movie's background music that went with this scene was only making it worse. The environment felt too hostile, only being silent and tense. The announcement of Vulcan was only a minute away and Joni was practically seething with anxiety. She had to physically stop herself from bolting up by digging her nails into the soft armrests of the bleacher-like seat. Gaila was definitely looking worried as she full-out turned her head towards Joni. It looked like she wanted to say something to the Vulcan that was freaking out next to her.

"…To accept that fear, and to maintain control of oneself and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain."

All attention of the assembly hall was on Kirk, except for Joni's which was on Spock as her heart sank. This was it; Vulcan was at its doom.

The man Joni had been anticipating in an instructor's uniform and holding a PADD approached the admiral saying, "Excuse me, Sir."

It was a daunting surprise when Spock in that moment looked back specifically at Joni and his eyes searched hers as if he sensed something was wrong, but they promptly darted back to the Admiral when he said, "We've received a distress call from Vulcan. With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hangar One _immediately_. Dismissed!"

The sound of everyone standing at once bombarded the hall, but the jumpiness in Joni stilled into petrification and she remained seated. Her delay received an, "Umm, are you okay?" from Cadet Gaila who was trying to shuffle past her. This at least got Joni to stand up.

"Gaila!" she said a bit too eagerly. "I mean, you're Cadet Gaila, right?"

"That's right," Gaila cocked her head in bewilderment.

Joni allowed Gaila to move in front of her in the line of cadets making their way out the hall. In fact, Joni allowed three others go in front of her until she was behind Uhura. "Cadet Uhura," Joni sounded almost like Spock.

"What is it?" Uhura seemed uninterested despite asking.

"My brother," Joni felt weird saying, "has you assigned to the USS Farragut."

"What?!" Uhura was horrified. "He told you that?"

"It doesn't matter how I know," Joni detoured. "You need to have my brother switch you and Gaila to the Enterprise." It was a last minute decision to ask Uhura to make sure Gaila was put on the Enterprise. It would at least make Joni feel better that she could save _someone's_ life—someone she _kind of_ knew, anyway. She had to do something; or at least try.

But Joni didn't see how she could save _everyone's_ lives.

"Of course the Commander is going to put me on the Enterprise," Uhura was so sure of herself. "I'll make him," she uttered afterwards. Fortunately, Uhura was not concerned as to why Joni had asked her to have him put Gaila on the Enterprise, too. And Joni never got to find out if she succeeded because she was separated from Uhura in the chaos of the crowd.

Though, this did prompt Joni to look around into the charge of cadets in search of Emily. There was no doubt in Joni that it had been Emily sitting, and even chuckling, with Kirk. Yet, looking around, there was no sign of Kirk. And there was especially no sign of Emily.

Maybe Joni _was_ alone.

It turned out, as she stood waiting with a bunch of cadets she didn't recognize, that when the instructor called out her name, _Joni_ had beenassigned to the Enterprise. She wanted to believe it was luck of the draw, but for some reason she had the strange feeling that her _logical_ brother Spock wanted his sister to be close.

* * *

So it was another red uniform.

Joni was required to slip into her Starfleet uniform, a short sleeve, red miniskirt-like dress with a black collar, which was actually more comfortable than the cadet uniform, but still horrid, before she met with a higher ranking officer and received her first assignment in _Engineering_. She was confused at first, because she thought engineering wore yellow uniforms, but she pushed herself to remember: Not in the original series and new movies. Engineering crewmen wore red, like Scotty.

When Joni was initially handed her new red uniform she assumed that she was a security officer. This made her uneasy—she would be a "red shirt" and expendable. But when Joni got the directions to go to Engineering, she flat-out told the officer there was some sort of mistake. Joni didn't know anything about engineering. _Did she?_

Even more shocking was that Joni had top marks in all her classes, recommendations from all of her instructors, and was automatically advanced to the rank of Lieutenant upon her arrival to the Enterprise. Additionally she was already considered a Matter-Antimatter Specialist and Warp Core Engineer. It was all there, listed in her credentials in the PADD she handed to Chief Engineer Olson, who looked it over and said, "Impressive."

_What the hell was Joni going to do?_ She didn't know anything about warp cores. She understood the concept—_somewhat_—but not the specifics of the specifics.

Nevertheless, Olson thought otherwise. He said, "Welcome aboard the Enterprise, Lieutenant Joan," and immediately put Joni in charge of monitoring all engineering personnel at their stations. She was basically second in command of Engineering. Immediately, ensigns started handing her PADDs with diagnostics and readings which she was supposed to analyze and then approve with a tap of her finger to the screen.

As the PADDs passed through her hands Joni suddenly felt comfortable. She found herself reading through them very fast and with ease; she actually understood what she was looking at. It was like it came naturally.

"Ensign," she said to one scrawny looking and timid man who had just handed her a tablet. "Run through this again, but with a Level 4 diagnostic. I don't want to see anything more than a .23 percent variance on the containment fields of the antimatter pods during warp."

He walked away with a, "Yes, Lieutenant."

_So this is what it felt like to work aboard a starship_, Joni thought to herself. _Natural._

Joni became so deeply involved going over the PADDs that it startled her when Spock appeared at her side. "Lieutenant," he said respectfully, but Joni dropped the tablet in her hand. She bent down to retrieve it while also trying to avoid showing her underwear because of the miniskirt uniform. Spock assessed her with a disapproving twitch in the corner of his mouth.

"A report on engineering, Lieutenant," he emphasized as she stood back up.

"Ready for launch," she did not falter to answer and handed him the PADD she had picked up, which was in fact the warp core efficiency analysis. He looked it over, moving his finger across the screen to scroll through the readings, and then handed it back to her.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he said properly, and he began walking away.

"Spock," she called after him. It sounded identical to the way Amanda, _their_ mother, had said his name before Spock entered the Vulcan High Council and declined his admittance into the Vulcan Science Academy.

"Yes?" Spock turned back with a slight raise of his brow.

Joni did her best to remain Vulcan as she said, "I'm happy to be serving aboard the Enterprise with you, Sir." It was her way of saying thank you. And she may have snuck in a short smile as Spock turned and went on his way.

**AN:** Guys, thank you _so_ much for the reviews! That is what I'm talking about! If you could please continue to do so for this chapter and future chapters, I would much appreciate it! Thanks a bunch for reading!

Lady Dawson


	7. Phasers at Maximum

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Seven: Phasers at Maximum

Emily tried to keep herself from looking too nervous as she stood with Jim and McCoy while they were getting their assignments, pushing her hands into her pockets to keep anyone from seeing them shaking. Her green gaze locked on the commander as he called out names, followed by the starship that they were assigned to, her heart giving a small flutter as she heard, "Conner, _U.S.S. Enterprise_."

Jim grinned at her, bending down to whisper in her ear, "Lucky you, getting on the newest flagship."

"Thanks," she muttered, listening intently to make sure that nothing had changed, but sure enough, McCoy too was assigned to the Enterprise, but Jim's name wasn't called.

His expression instantly changed to confusion, exchanging a look with Emily and McCoy, who looked as though he had expected this.

"He didn't call my name," Jim muttered before breaking into a run after the officer, Emily close behind. "Commander? Sir, you didn't call my name. Kirk, James T.?"

"Kirk, you're on academic suspension," the commander replied without bothering to glance in his direction. "That means that you're grounded until the Academy Board rules." He punched something into the computer before walking in another direction.

"Jim, it'll be okay," Emily tried to reassure him, laying her hand on his shoulder in comfort as McCoy caught up with them. "The Board will rule in your favor."

"Most likely," McCoy muttered. "Em, we'd better go."

She gave him a look as Jim, his head hanging, straightened and turned to look at them, forcing a smile onto his face, but she could see, all too clearly, that his usual bright blue eyes had dulled slightly. "Sure, yeah, be safe," he said, shaking McCoy's hand and pulling Emily into a tight hug. "Be careful; try not to get hurt until I can get up there."

"I won't," she whispered back, a lump forming in her throat. "I promise, I won't go trying to be a hero or anything."

He chuckled, releasing her and Emily reluctantly fell into step next to McCoy, glancing back at Jim; he looked so lost just standing there, watching everybody else take off on a mission while he was left behind.

Emily took a quick glance at McCoy; any moment now, he should be turning around to go back to Jim . . .

Except it wasn't happening, she realized when they got near the shuttle. He wasn't turning back.

Making her decision midstep, Emily grabbed McCoy's arm, yanking him away from the shuttle and giving him a fierce look. "Leonard, we can't leave him," she said desperately and she could tell by her use of his first name that he knew she meant business. "We have to do something."

McCoy sighed. "Emily, there's not much we can do . . . it's the Academy Board's rule."

"And I don't _care_ what they say. Look at him, Doc," she said, jabbing her finger in Jim's direction. "We can't just leave him standing there, looking so pathetic."

He glanced edgily at Jim, his shoulders sagging. "Emily, there's no way that we could sneak him on board without anyone noticing."

"Maybe there is," Emily said with a mischievous smile. He looked at her. "Isn't there some kind of rule that says that the transport of a patient is to be determined by his attending physician?"

"Yes, but . . ."

"So can't you give him some vaccine that would give him symptoms and we could smuggle him on?"

Opening his mouth, McCoy was about to argue with her, but quailed underneath Emily's stern look. "Yeah, yeah, I could . . . okay, fine," he grumbled. "Why do you always drag me into these things?"

"We're your friends, Doc," she said cheerfully, steering him back in Jim's direction. "This is what friends do for each other; sometimes incredible stupid things. Now come on, we'd better hurry."

Jim was still standing where they'd left him, his head hanging and looking so utterly pathetic and he didn't even notice them coming back until Emily grabbed his arm, McCoy the other, and they started steering him in the direction of the Medical building. "What are we doing?"

"Sneaking you on," Emily replied, pushing him into the chair. "Don't argue."

"Wasn't going to," he said, a grin spreading across his face. "What are you going to—OUCH!" he yelped as McCoy jabbed him with a hypo. "What was _that_?"

"A vaccine against the viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas," McCoy replied calmly. Emily shot him a look as she eased Jim into a nearby chair. "It'll give you the systems. You're gonna start to lose vision in your left eye."

"Yeah, I already have," Jim mumbled, blinking rapidly. "Em, you're still here, right?"

"Don't worry, I won't leave you alone," she assured him. "At least not until we get you onto the Enterprise."

"Good," he said, sounding relieved. "That's good."

"Oh, and you're gonna get a really bad headache and flop sweat," McCoy added, not paying attention to their conversation.

Jim scowled at him. "You call this a favor?"

"Thank Emily," he responded. "This was all her idea."

"Gee, thanks, Doc," she grumbled as Jim stared in her direction in horror. "Hey, I couldn't exactly leave you there; you looked too pathetic. Now come on, let's go before they leave us behind. Come on, Jim," she said, helping him standing unsteadily. "Lean on me, I've got you."

Groaning, Jim obeyed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and she supported him with her arm around his waist as McCoy kept a firm grip on Jim's free arm, leading him in the direction of the shuttle.

"Names?" the officer said in a bored tone.

"Conner, Emily R., McCoy, Leonard H., and Kirk, James T.," McCoy answered in an official tone, making him sound authoritative. The official glanced through his tablet, flicking off Emily and McCoy, but he scrolled through for Jim's name, only to find it wasn't there.

"Kirk, James T. is not cleared for duty aboard the Enterprise," he said, glancing back up at them suspiciously.

"Medical code states that the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me," McCoy retorted. Jim was already starting to sprout symptoms, Emily noted as she supported him, squeezing his hand reassuringly. Beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead as the doctor was talking to the officer. "So I'm taking Mr. Kirk aboard; or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the Enterprise warped into a crisis without one of its senior medical officers?"

The officer looked nervous, nodding quickly. "As you were."

"As _you_ were," McCoy replied flatly, leading Jim into the shuttle. "Come on, you two. Em, you got him?" he asked as they grabbed some seats. Emily slid into the window seat, both because she was desperate to catch a glimpse of a real starship—or at least, as real as this dream was—and because she remembered about McCoy's fear of flying. He shot her a relieved look as they eased Jim into the seat between them.

"Em, if I throw up on you, I'm sorry in advance," Jim whispered to her. She squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay," she told him. "Just take deep breaths, all right? We'll be on the Enterprise in a few minutes."

"Okay," he mumbled, tilting his head back and did as she told him, taking deep, albeit unsteady, breaths as the shuttle lifted up into the sky, heading away from the surface and outside of the planet's orbit.

Emily felt her breath hitch as they left Earth behind, heading instead for the starship that they were assigned to, her green eyes widening. "Jim, you've got to see this," she whispered, tugging on his sleeve. "Come on, look . . ."

Reluctantly, he turned his gaze towards the window, staring at the ship that he would eventually captain, his bright blue eyes going wide and he looked just as awestruck as she felt. A smile formed on Emily's face as she turned her gaze back towards in, taking in the majesty of the starship.

_ For a dream,_ she thought, _this is really intense. And it's starting to feel altogether too real._ And for the first time since she had found herself in this strange, vivid, and intense dream, she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to wake up.

"Wow," Jim whispered next to her and that, she thought dryly, pretty much summed it up as they zoomed into the landing platform, coming to a stop.

"Emily, you'd better get down to Tactical," McCoy advised her as they half-carried Jim off the shuttle, heading in the direction of Medical. She looked at him in confusion and next to her, Jim formed a protest, looking desperately in Emily's direction. "They might start to get suspicious if they find a Tactical Officer in Medical."

She sighed; he was probably right, but it still didn't feel right leaving Jim. Standing on her tiptoes, so she could reach his level, she kissed Jim on the cheek.

"I have to go, but I'll come find you as soon as I can," she promised, shyly meeting his gaze, only to find his had gone wide, staring down at her in complete shock, but there was a flicker of joy in his bright blue eyes. Emily bit her lip, wondering if she'd stepped into dangerous territory as she glanced at McCoy. "Try not to kill him, Doc."

"I'll try," he said, grabbing Jim's elbow and steering him away while Jim stared back at Emily, the same stunned look on his face. She watched them go before heading for Tactical.

Upon arrival, she was immediately given a red dress, which she was supposed to change into, but she flat out told them no. Under no circumstances was she going to wear another dress, this one even shorter than the cadet one was. Either they gave her pants and a shirt or she'd catch the shuttle back home.

The man looked like he wanted to argue with her but decided, upon reflection, that it didn't matter that much, so he just gave her a red shirt and pants, but he probably just did so to get her to leave, Emily thought with a wry smile. Whatever the reason, at least she didn't have to wear another dress against her will.

As she was walking away from him, though, following the rest of the female cadets going to change, a thought struck Emily's mind.

_ Aren't the ones in red the ones who always get killed?!_

* * *

"Conner, Emily R.," Chief Tactical Officer Rodriquez read as he glanced over her information, giving her a quick look before eyeing it again. "Armory Officer . . . with advanced training in Energy Weapons . . . that's pretty good . . ." He eyed her short stature again with a slight smile. "It says here that you have training in hand-to-hand combat, is that right?"

"Yes, sir," Emily replied, some of her nerves fading away as the chief nodded slightly in approval. This one, at least, was true; besides having to defend herself against four older brothers growing up, she'd been taking karate classes since the age of five, so she definitely had that one covered.

"Good to know," he said thoughtfully, handing her tablet back to her. "I'm gonna need you to be on call for any ground missions that might take place, Conner, but for now, I need you on the Bridge with me to man one of the phasers."

"I thought that this was an assist mission, sir?" Emily feigned ignorance, not wanting anybody to realize she actually knew what was going to happen. A lump formed in her throat as she realized that, in less than an hour, an entire planet and most of its people would be decimated. She felt slightly sick at the thought, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was already too late for that.

This was starting to feel less and less like a dream and more and more like reality, she thought as the chief smile crookedly at her.

"Never know when things could change, Cadet," he replied. "And Conner, I'm promoting you to Lieutenant. Welcome aboard the Enterprise."

"Thank you, sir," Emily said, deeply relieved as he pointed her towards the lifts while moving on to the cadet behind him. It took her a minute to figure out how to get to the Bridge once inside, but once she found the button, she zoomed up faster than she would on a regular elevator.

When she arrived, the Bridge was already in full command; Captain Pike glanced up at her as soon as she entered, giving her a smile.

"Conner, what are you doing up here?"

"Lieutenant Rodriquez promoted me and told me to man the phasers," she explained.

"Ah." Pike nodded as though this cleared things up, gesturing to the phasers, much to her relief. "Well, then, carry on, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir," she said as she took her place on the Bridge, trying very hard not to feel nervous as her fingers flew across the keypads. She inwardly relaxed; she shouldn't have been worried. Just as what had happened in the simulation, she had some instinctive ability to actually _know_ what she was doing, even if she didn't actually know what she was doing.

Brushing a strand of free hair out of her green eyes, she glanced up as the lifts opened, revealing Spock. Emily resisted the urge to groan; after the way he'd treated Jim back at the hearing, she wasn't too thrilled to be in the same room with him. But the Vulcan didn't so much as glance in her direction, focused entirely on what he was doing as Pike nodded to him in greeting.

"Mr. Spock."

"Captain," he said in his calm, unemotional tone. "Engineering reports ready for launch."

Emily glanced down at the phasers, setting them to standby as her thoughts returned to Jim, down in Medical with McCoy. His expression when she'd kissed his cheek flashed through her mind and she shivered slightly, wondering what that had been all about. Was that not something that she would have done in the past here? she wondered quickly. She wasn't even sure why she'd done it; it was just an impulse and then, before she could think about it, the damage was done.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but be worried about him; she knew McCoy was a really good doctor and there were plenty of people down in Medical to help him if he needed it, but still . . . anxiety hung over her as her thoughts drifted back to Jim. She was actually getting attached to the doofus, which amazed her. Ever since Adam, she hadn't allowed herself to get close to any guys. Sure, she had a couple guy friends from classes, but they were more study buddies than actual friends. This was different.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Pike interrupted her thoughts as he took his seat, "the maiden voyage of our newest flagship deserves more pomp and circumstance than we can afford today. Her christening will just have to be our reward for a safe return. Carry on," he added as he punched into the speakers. "All decks, this is Captain Pike. Prepare for immediate departure. Helm," he added, ending the shipwide communication, "thrusters."

"Moorings retracted, Captain," said the pilot—Sulu, was that his name? Emily tried to remember—turning in his seat to address Pike. "Dock reports ready. Thrusters fired, separating from space dock." He turned back to his position, glancing down at the screen. "The fleet's cleared the space dock, Captain. All ships ready for warp."

"Set course for Vulcan."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Sulu replied, fingers flying over the keys. "Course laid in."

"Maximum warp," Pike ordered. "Punch it."

Emily glanced at the window, watching with fascination as the other ships leaped into warp, disappearing in a zoom of light . . . except for them.

The engines started up, then stalled, sputtering.

Everyone in the vicinity look around, directly at Sulu, who blushed as he looked over his computer, checking everything rapidly as Pike asked, "Lieutenant, where is Helmsman McKenna?"

"He has lungworm, sir," Sulu explained, still surveying the keypad in front of him. Emily suppressed a grin; how exactly had he gotten into the pilot's seat and Pike just _now_ realized that the regular pilot wasn't there? "He couldn't report to his post." He turned in his chair to the captain. "I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"And you are a pilot, right?"

Sulu turned even redder. "Very much so, sir," he assured him, turning back to look at the computers. "I'm not quite sure what's wrong here . . ."

"Is the parking brake on?" Pike inquired.

Emily had to duck in order to smother her laugh; she couldn't help it. That line had been one of the best of the film. She pulled back just as Spock was asking, "Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?"

Sulu's fingers stilled, his shoulders sagging, and then he punched a button. "Ready for warp, sir."

"Let's punch it," Pike said and Emily felt her insides squirm in anticipation as the Enterprise surged forward and disappeared into white lights around them.

Emily closed her eyes briefly, turning her attention back on what she was doing, which was programming the phasers for maximum; her fingers were flying over the keys. Probably the best thing about being on the Bridge, she thought, was that nobody questioned what she was doing. Even Rodriquez wasn't paying any attention to her, too busy checking over everything else.

But they were going to need the extra power in a few minutes, she thought, feeling slightly sick.

All the other ships . . . all of the cadets, the Starfleet officers . . . all of them, they were already dead . . .

The more that she began to adapt to everything around her, the more everything around her started to feel more real, and the more real that everything got . . . the more the guilt laid down upon Emily as she started to think of what she could have prevented, had she stopped for one second and thought if this wasn't a dream. And while she wasn't 100% convinced that it wasn't, she was starting to feel as though it were real.

"Conner."

Emily's head shot up as Rodriquez was peering down at her, his expression looking concerned. For one second, she thought maybe he had noticed her powering up the phasers, until he asked, "Are you all right?"

She opened her mouth to reply, then noticed that her hands were shaking ever so slightly, noticeable to the Chief Tactical Officer's sharp gaze.

Forcing a smile up at him, she said, "Yes, sir. Sorry . . ."

He eyed her, then broke into a knowing smile. "First time at warp?"

"Is it that obvious?" she asked weakly, inwardly glad to have an excuse.

Rodriquez chuckled, clamping a hand on her shoulder before moving away to check on the rest of senior Tactical. Emily was about to go back to what she was doing when she heard, "Captain Pike! Captain, we have to stop the ship!"

Spinning around in her seat, Emily jumped up as Jim, followed closely by McCoy, burst onto the Bridge.

"Kirk?" Pike demanded incredulously as he rose from his chair, staring at his rebellious protégé. "How the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?"

"Captain, this man's under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine," McCoy explained quickly, trying to haul Jim away, not that the blond was giving up, his bright blue eyes desperate. "He's completely delusional and I take full responsibility . . ."

"Vulcan isn't experiencing a natural disaster!" Jim insisted loudly, looking desperately at the captain as Emily moved to Jim's side, ready to intervene if necessary. She certainly wasn't about to let him deal with the uptight, annoying Spock on his own. "It's been attacked by Romulans."

"Romulans?" Pike echoed disbelievingly. "Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day. McCoy, take him back to Medical; we'll have words later."

"Sir, that same anomaly that we saw today," Jim tried to explain as Spock came over to them, giving Emily a look that said, all too clearly, for her to return to her post, but she ignored, not budging from where she was.

"Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, Captain," Spock stated the obvious. "By Regulations, that makes him a stowaway. I can remove the cadet—"

"Try it!" Jim said loudly, bright blue eyes flashing at the Vulcan. "This cadet's trying to save the Bridge!"

"Jim, calm down," Emily told him, laying a hand on his shoulder. He didn't stop glaring at Spock, but she could feel the tension leaving him underneath her touch.

"By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?" Spock replied skeptically without missing a beat.

"It's not a rescue mission," Jim shot back before looking back at Pike. "Listen to me, it's an attack."

"What are you talking about, Jim?" Emily asked gently, in an attempt to calm things down before things got out of hand.

Jim looked at her finally. "That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space we saw today, also occurred on the day of my birth, right before a Romulan ship attacked the U.S.S. Kelvin. You know that, sir," he added to Pike, who had lost the disbelieving look and was replaced by dawning realization, "I read your dissertation. That ship, which had formidable and advanced weaponry, was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attack took place on the edge of Klingon space and at 2300 hours last night, there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by Romulans, sir, and it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."

"And you know of this Klingon attack how?" Pike finally said. Jim turned his gaze to Uhura, who had come in behind Jim and McCoy.

As everyone turned to her, she said, "Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Kirk's report is accurate."

"We're warping into a trap, sir; the Romulans are waiting for us. I _promise_ you that," Jim insisted desperately, his hand moving to grasp Emily's. She glanced down at their entwined hands, her heart skipping a beat, before looking back up at him, but his bright blue eyes on Pike, not even noticing.

Pike didn't even look worried or uncertain keeping his cool as he looked back at Spock expectantly. The Vulcan was looking between Uhura and Kirk before he said, "The cadet's logic is sound. And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics; we would be wise to accept her conclusion."

"Scan Vulcan space; check for any transmissions in Romulan," Pike ordered the Communications Officer, who protested, "Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan."

Pike returned his gaze to Uhura. "What about you? Do you speak Romulan, Cadet . . .?"

"Uhura," she replied. "All three dialects, sir."

"Uhura, relieve the lieutenant," he ordered. She nodded, moving to take the Communications Officer's place. "Hannity, hail the U.S.S. Truman."

Emily turned to Jim, noticing just how pale he looked, no doubt from the allergic reaction that he'd suffered from the vaccine, she thought, a twinge of guilt gushing through her; she'd forgotten about that. She squeezed his hand as gently as she could, but he still jumped, looking down at her.

"You okay?" she whispered. He nodded.

"Fine," he assured her as Uhura informed Pike that there were no transmissions anywhere near Vulcan. "It's because they're being attacked."

There wasn't a flicker of hesitation as Pike returned to his seat. "Shields up, red alert," he ordered. "Conner, back to your post."

Emily squeezed Jim's hand again but obeyed, reaching her spot just as the ship left warp into Vulcan space.

And into a battlefield.

* * *

"Captain, they're locking torpedoes!" Spock called as Emily frantically tried to fire at the Romulan ship, not that it helped. It was too advanced; anything she hurled at it barely even dented the surface. She would have more luck hitting it with her bare hands, she thought begrudgingly.

"Divert auxiliary power to port nacelles to forward shields," Pike shouted. Emily's fingers flew over the keypad, but she could barely keep up. Everything around her was happening too fast and there wasn't enough power against it.

She wanted to laugh at the thought; she was in a fictional world, on a ship far advanced than she was used to, and she was complaining that it wasn't advanced enough.

"Captain," Spock called, "the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high-energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter advice." For Vulcan being his home planet, Emily thought, he didn't seem at all concerned about damage to it.

_ Stupid, emotionless, annoying Vulcans_, she thought in exasperation, firing the phasers at the ship, but it was like hitting a car with a water gun.

Actually, that might be more effective.

"Captain," Uhura said quickly, "we're being hailed."

Pike frowned, but nodded. "On screen," he ordered.

Emily glanced towards the screen, her stomach lurching as she saw the image of the Romulan that was responsible not only for this massacre, but for the death of Jim's dad, she thought, tossing a glance towards her best friend. He hadn't moved from his place behind Pike, but his face had grown very hard as he stared at the Romulan.

"Hello."

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?" Pike said calmly—more calmly than he probably felt.

"Hi, Christopher," he replied easily, "I'm Nero."

"You've declared war against the Federation," Pike told him flatly, his gaze unyielding. "Withdraw and I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location—"

"I do not speak for the Empire," Nero interrupted. "We stand apart." He paused, a small smirk appearing. "As does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right . . . _Spock_?" The way that he said his name, it was as though it was a foul taste in his mouth.

Spock rose to his feet, moving to stand by Pike, his eyes narrowed at the Romulan as all eyes turned to him.

"Pardon me, but I do not believe you and I are acquainted."

"We're not," Nero acknowledged. "Not yet. Spock, there's something I would like you to see. Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle and come aboard the Narada for negotiations. That is all."

With that, he ended the transmission, leaving the Bridge in complete silence.

It was totally the wrong movie, but Emily couldn't help but mumble, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

No one bothered replying; everyone in the vicinity was in agreement. Something bad was about to happen; it had already started, Emily thought with a shiver, glancing to the destroyed ships.

Behind her, Pike rose to his feet.

"He'll kill you," Jim protested in horror, true fear in his eyes as he looked at Pike. "You know that."

"Your survival is unlikely," Spock agreed.

"Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake."

"I too agree; you should rethink your strategy."

"I understand that," Pike said grimly before looking across the Bridge. "I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat."

Emily swallowed, knowing she was about to screw up what was _supposed_ to happen, but she couldn't let Jim leave without her; she'd worry too much and besides, she'd be more useful down there than she would up here.

Raising her hand, she spoke up timidly, "I have training, sir."

Nodding in approval, Pike said, "Come with me. Kirk, you too, you're not supposed to be here anyway. Sulu, you have the conn," he said, leading Emily, Jim, and Spock out of the Bridge.

**AN:** Guys, thank you so much for the reviews! They are greatly appreciated. If you could continue to do so for this chapter and future chapters, I will be immensely grateful. Hope you're enjoying the story!

Lady Dawson


	8. Goodbye Olsen

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter 8: Goodbye Olson

Her eyes blinked awake, which might have been a mistake. The moment Joni became conscious she was greeted with panicked shouting ensuing around her in a room that she most definitely did not recognize that was too dim and just too noisy for her head. She sat up to see what was going on only to realize too late that she had been lying down for a reason—her head felt split open.

There was an hourglass-shaped woman, blond hair put up into a mohawk-like bun and wearing a gray dress with a white apron, that shouted, "Doctor McCoy, this one is awake now," as she approached Joni, also telling Joni to take it slow as she sat up to put her feet on the floor. The woman seemed the calmest out of anyone in the room, which turned out: it was Sickbay.

But Joni couldn't remember how she ended up in Sickbay. The last thing she remembered was running to a console to make sure all power was being diverted to the engines before they dropped out of warp, so that Sulu on the Bridge had the power he needed to safely dodge the wreckage of the other starships.

"Assist mission, my arse," Joni recalled thinking after Chief Engineer Olson had stated that Engineering's job would be easy because they were only on an _assist mission_. Olson had been more stunned and surprised than anyone in Engineering when the Enterprise went to Red Alert. And he had no time to react when the Enterprise dropped out of warp, but Joni had already been on her way to a console that could work the Impulse Engines. They were going to need full impulse, and auxiliary power would be used up on evasive maneuvers.

_No, no, no!_—she was in disbelief. For some reason more power than what was necessary was being diverted to the phasers; they were at maximum power. The command had come from one of the Bridge's tactical consoles, so Joni's attempt to divert all power to the engines was being overridden by the Bridge. She was going to have to override the bridge's control of the phasers for a few measly seconds to get the extra boost to the impulse engines.

Joni had not even questioned herself as she swiped and tapped away at the console. She knew what she was doing. Overriding a bridge command was the easy part. How she knew how to do it was the hard part, but there wasn't room to think about that. In her mind, at that moment, Joni couldn't stop thinking of how it was just like a tactical officer to pull off something like maximum power to phasers when they needed engines.

In an emergency, the only thing tactical officers can think of are weapons; they don't stop to think about engines, shields, or hull integrity. A tactical officer's security blanket is their instinct to be ready to fight. An engineer's is everything else.

That was the last thing Joni remembered thinking before waking up in Sickbay. Now all she could think about was how she had awakened in Sickbay. Across the room, electrical sparks were shooting from consoles and there were several people attending to a fire that didn't seem like it wanted to go out.

"Excuse me," Joni was going to ask the blond woman who was trying to calm a writhing man on the bed next to Joni's. He had multiple burns on his hands and face and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. Another man in white scrubs was on the other side of the bed trying to tend to the burns, but the burned man wouldn't stop moving. The blond woman injected him with something that calmed him down, before she turned to Joni with a motherly smile.

"You'll be alright, dear. You hit your head fairly hard, but you're going to be alright. We've already tended to the gash that was on your head. Do you need something for the headache?"

"What happened?" Joni said first. The headache she could handle. It was about as bad as a caffeine headache. "How did I get here?"

"We were hit with a torpedo," she said with dismay, glancing around at the damage done to Sickbay. "Unfortunately, you were on the side of Engineering that got a good shake from the hit. You fell and hit your head on some sharp tubing. Chief Engineer Olson had you brought to Sickbay before he went with Captain Pike."

"Yeah," a flustered McCoy had rushed up next to Joni and began checking her vitals. "Olson wanted us to relay the message that as soon as you were awake, you're in charge of Engineering until he gets back. Nurse Chapel, hand me that hypospray, will you?"

Joni turned to the blond woman again, this time with more interest. She couldn't recall ever seeing the woman in the 2009 Star Trek movie, but this wasn't the movie, was it? This was some kind of reality that Joni had been _placed_ into—placed as in some outside force put her there. After all, she woke up in Sickbay hadn't she? Not her bed back at the university in the year 2013. And this woman in front of her was Nurse Chapel—_The Nurse Chapel_ that was never shown on screen, only heard!

Nurse Chapel picked up a hypospray from a tray at the end of the bed and handed it to McCoy. "Brilliant idea by our captain, by the way," McCoy abrasively and sarcastically said as he injected Joni with the hypospray. He didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular. "Taking his chief engineer _and_ my two best friends to go on a suicide mission."

"Kirk and Sulu," Joni said, thinking out loud. She didn't understand why McCoy would refer to Sulu as his best friend. The hypospray he had injected her with made her headache quickly fade, but she was apparently still fuzzy on events.

McCoy looked down on Joni with a critical gaze. "No," he said, sounding somewhat confused himself. "Pike took Olson, Kirk, and Conner with him. They are on a space dive to make contact with that thing that the Romulan's are using to drill into Vulcan."

"Emily," Joni suddenly realized.

"Yeah," McCoy answered. "I didn't know you and Emily were acquainted. I guess I should have known that if you've become acquainted with Kirk, then you know who Emily is. The two of them are two peas in a pod."

So Emily _was_ on the Enterprise! Or at least she had been; now she was plunging to the surface of Vulcan. She must have taken Sulu's spot because she must have some kind of hand-to-hand combat training.

"Bones," Joni started, but immediately stopped. "I mean… Doctor McCoy." She didn't want to be informal. Growing up with Star Trek, she had been calling his character Bones all her life.

McCoy gave her a grim glare. "You've been spending _too_ much time with Jim, I see."

"How do you know Emily?" Joni carried on; she was starting to notice that she was sounding more and more like a Vulcan in tone when she spoke. Even if she was asking a question, it came out flat and emotionless. She wasn't sure if she was doing that on purpose, or if she was actually becoming a Vulcan.

"You gotta be kidding me," he boisterously answered. "I've known those two crazy kids since they enlisted in Starfleet together. We got on the same recruit transport in Riverside, Iowa. And in the time I've known them, I've realized that those two are like playing Russian Roulette in broad daylight. Jim with his rebellious nature, and Emily with her iconic determination." He calmed himself in a thought. "I say they're on a suicide mission, but if there's anyone that can come out alive in a situation like this, it's those two."

Joni must have given some kind of awkward look to McCoy because then he said, "You think Emily and Jim are a couple, don't you? Yeah, well, they aren't."

Joni thought better than to question McCoy, because she wasn't sure if Emily and Kirk being a couple was relevant to the situation—the one of being stuck in the Star Trek universe. The fact was that it appeared that Emily was stuck in this universe too. Whether it was the real Emily or not, Joni needed to find out.

McCoy was expectantly staring at Joni, so she came up with the reply, "Vulcans do not think on matters such as relationship status."

"What a load of cow paddies," McCoy said disappointedly. "You're telling me that you pointy eared folk don't walk into a room and sense who might be doing each other? I thought that was a universal social mechanism. Besides, I thought Vulcans were supposed to be observant."

"That is hardly necessary," Nurse Chapel objected to McCoy with a glare. "Where are your bedside manners, Doctor? Lieutenant Joan is your patient." She walked away in a huff towards another patient.

McCoy rolled his eyes, mumbling, "I didn't ask for this," before saying to Joni, "Well we're finished here. You're fit to return to duty."

"How long have Kirk, Emily, and Olson been gone?" Joni asked before getting up.

"Olson had you dropped off in Sickbay almost twenty minutes ago. I would say all of them have been off of the Enterprise for almost ten minutes now." Nurse Chapel called for McCoy across Sickbay before she loudly reprimanded him for, what sounded like, "using too much cordrazine" on a patient that looked twitchy and hyper. "See what I have to deal with," McCoy muttered only loud enough for Joni to hear. "You better get back to Engineering," he said before walking away, shouting for Nurse Chapel to calm herself.

Without delay, Joni calmly walked out of Sickbay. When the hissing door closed behind her, she began sprinting down the bright white halls of the Enterprise. There was no time. If the Pike had left ten minutes ago, that meant that Kirk and whoever survived the dive to Vulcan would be returning in minutes. Maybe seconds. She wanted to be in the transporter room when _whoever_ came back.

_Please, please, please be Emily_, Joni repeated to herself. Emily just had to survive. Sulu had survived. Surely if Emily took Sulu's place, then she would come back alive. What would it mean if only Kirk came back? What would it mean if Kirk and Olson came back? _What did any of it mean_, Joni wildly wondered.

As Joni came around a corner there was a flash of something green, red, and blue that gasped when Joni collided into it. Joni stumbled backwards and said, "Forgive me."

The apology did not sound genuine, only flat and emotionless. Joni found herself inwardly saying _Dammit!_ because she was sounding more and more Vulcan by the second.

The person Joni had collided with turned around and Joni felt her eyes widen. It was Gaila!

"Gaila," Joni repeated, not mimicking her inward relief. If Gaila was on the Enterprise… Well it was either a huge coincidence, or… Uhura was able to get the Orion cadet transferred.

It looked like Gaila was working on a panel sticking out of wall. She was in a dark blue Starfleet dress. She was holding the back of head because of the collision.

"You _are_ Gaila, are you not?" Joni found herself asking as she suddenly remembered that there was a deleted scene in Star Trek that involved Kirk making the same mistake. In the scene, Kirk confused another female Orion crewman on the Enterprise for Gaila as he made an apology for using her to cheat on the Kobayashi Maru. Then he realized the Orion he was talking to was _not _Gaila.

But _this_ Orion in front of Joni, she certainly looked like Gaila.

"Oh," she answered. "I see you're a Lieutenant now. Yes, Lieutenant," she smiled and nodded excitedly. "It's me! We all look so different in our Starfleet uniforms."

"So you made it onto the Enterprise," Joni was more relieved than she let show.

"Thanks to you," Gaila's eyes became sentimental. "Uhura told me that you asked to have me transferred to the Enterprise." She blinked and slightly smiled like she was holding back an even stronger emotion. "I don't know how to thank you. If I had been on the Farragut like I was originally assigned. Well… I wouldn't be here. I would… "

_Oh gosh!_ Joni thought as Gaila threw her arms around her and began to make a squealing noise into Joni's shoulder.

"I don't know how you knew," she said in a squeaky voice. "Maybe you didn't," she sniffled. "Either way, I still have you to thank for saving my life."

Gaila's squeals turned into squeaky crying and she hugged Joni tighter. Another crewmember walked by and eyed the spectacle. Joni gave him a cold, death-ray glare, and he stopped staring to only hurry off in the direction he had been going.

Not really knowing what to do, Joni patted Gaila on the one of her shoulders and said, "There, there. It was nothing at all," retaining a Vulcan tone. "Please, refrain from crying."

Gaila finally pulled away wiping her eyes with the back of a hand, still sniffling. "It's just, all those people. They're all…" She started to sob again.

"Ensign," Joni was commanding but calm. "We are still at Red Alert. Or do you need to be relieved of your duties until further notice?"

Gaila had grown silent and finished clearing her eyes. "Sorry, Lieutenant. You're right of course. This is no time to be crying like a little girl."

"As you were, Ensign," Joni gave her a single nod. Gaila silently turned back to what she was doing, and Joni started to walk in the direction she needed go. She only took several steps before stopping and turning to Gaila to say, "The Enterprise needs you Ensign Gaila. You are here for a reason. Remember that."

As soon as Joni was out of Gaila's sight, she went back to sprinting, being extra careful this time when she came around a corner or came out of the turbolift. There was something Joni couldn't stop thinking of now. If Gaila was on the Enterprise directly because of what Joni had asked Uhura to do, that meant… Joni could change what was going to happen.

She could save more lives.

By the time she reached the transporter room and the door hissed open, the sound of the transporter being operated reached Joni's ears. Chekov was standing at the controls shouting, "Hold on, hold on! Compensating gravitational pull. Aaaand… "

Someone was screaming over the com, but Joni couldn't tell who it was as she breathed heavily at the door, leaning onto the wall trying to catch her own breath from running faster than she could really handle. Her heart was pounding as fast the whirring of the transporter pad.

"Gotcha!" Chekov shouted with glee as particles whirled and hummed into place at the front of the pad. Two people crashed onto it, one on top of the other, with a loud _thunk!_ followed by the sound of shattering glass. This ended Chekov's feat and he excitedly cheered, "Ha-oh! Yomayo!"

Kirk was on top of whoever was beamed to the Enterprise with him. Obviously the other person was not Sulu, and he or she wore a red spacesuit instead of yellow like Sulu's. _Was it Olson?_

However, instead of rolling off of whoever it was, Kirk looked down at the person, smiling some stupid smile through his pain. The girl—and it was a girl, Joni realized—made a happy victorious laugh and then pushed Kirk off of her before sitting up in a dizzy daze. Her blond locks were in a tangled mess and her eyes were not yet focused.

But it was definitely Emily.

Joni slid to the floor against the door panel and began a laugh of relief.

**AN:** Guys, thanks again for the reviews! They really do help, they do. And they make me happy. So please continue!


	9. Uncharted Territory

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Nine: Uncharted Territory

The next few minutes flew by as Pike led them down to the shuttle bay, rambling off instructions to Spock while turning over duties of captaincy to him and promoting Jim to first officer. Emily had to admit, she wasn't sure whose expression was more priceless: Spock's or Jim's. If the situation hadn't been so serious, then she would have laughed, but as it was, she was worried about what was going to happen from here on out.

She had taken Sulu's place. By merely doing that, she had changed things. They were in uncharted territory; she had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.

Would what-his-name . . . Olsen survive? Would _she_?

There was no time to think about that as she put on the red space suit, climbing into the shuttle with Olsen, who gave her a flirtatious look as he noticed her. Jim scowled at him, moving to grab Emily's hand as they took their seats in the shuttle. Her heart was fluttering the entire time and she wasn't sure if it was anticipation as to what was going to happen or because of Jim holding her hand.

Or both, she considered.

"Pre-jump," Pike spoke up from the pilot's seat.

Emily reached down to grab her oxygen mask, pushing her long hair underneath the hood with some difficulty before pulling it on, a feeling of trepidation settling over her. She really hoped that she wasn't going to be sick until after she got this thing off.

"Gentlemen and lady, we are approaching the drop zone," Pike instructed them. All three of them stood up as the handlebars came down for them to grab hold. "We have one shot to land on that platform. They may have defenses, so pull your chute as late as possible. Three . . . two . . . one," he said and Emily found herself lying flat on her stomach, except there wasn't anything underneath her except the door to the shuttle. This was it, she thought, her stomach fluttering. "Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good luck," he said and then Emily was flying through the sky.

Or more accurately, she was flying through space, she thought, marveling at the splendid beauty of outer space. And Vulcan was even more beautiful with her own eyes, more than she could have possibly imagined.

Everything had gone quiet as soon as they had dropped from the shuttle; all Emily could hear was her own breathing, ragged and quick, through her mouthpiece. The silence was kind of eerie and unsettling.

"Kirk to Enterprise," Jim's voice spoke up in her ear, making her jump. "Distance to target, 5,000 meters. Four thousand meters . . . three thousand . . . two thousand . . ."

"Pulling chute!" Emily yelled, judging the distance between herself and the platform as it came into view. She hit the button on the spacesuit, releasing a red chute, fluttering in the air as it began slowing her descent. Below her, she could see Jim's blue chute open up, but Olsen ignored her, keeping his stubbornly closed as he flew closer and closer to the platform. "Come on, you idiot, pull your chute!"

"No, no, not yet! 1,500 meters!" he yelled, laughing like an idiot as he propelled himself through the air, trying to go faster.

"You stupid, idiotic, adrenaline junkie!" Emily screamed at him. "Just open up your chute, idiot! You're going to get yourself killed!"

But her words had absolutely no effect as he continued whooping in enjoyment, not pulling his chute until the very last second. Emily turned her head away, unable to watch this, but she couldn't block out his scream of terror as he fell from the platform and was sucked into the laser that was drilling through the planet's core. If she lived to be a thousand, she would never forget that scream.

_ Oh, gods_, she thought, trying very hard not be sick. It was the first time that anybody had ever died in front of her . . .

Sure, her dad had been killed in a car accident when she was twelve, but it wasn't the same. She hadn't _been_ there. She wouldn't remember the moment when his life tragically ended. With Olsen, it was different. Even if she hadn't met Olsen until just a few moments ago, it shook her.

Below, Jim had landed on the platform, nearly going off the edge as well because his chute was pulling him with the wind, but he snapped it back into his gear just as a Romulan appeared from inside the drill and he tackled him while Emily fluttered to the platform.

Emily shrieked as gunfire erupted around her, shot from the Romulan rifle as Jim fought him, but she managed to reach the platform, nearly going off the edge too, but she snapped her chute back into her gear before it pulled her into the laser like Olsen.

Scrambling to her feet, Emily tossed her oxygen mask aside, pulling her hair free as she rushed to help Jim, but a second Romulan distracted her. He grinned at her, but she narrowed her eyes at him, taking a defensive stance as she went at him.

He grunted as she bent her body backwards, pushing herself with her hands into the air, kicking the Romulan backwards and off balance, distracting him.

"You picked the wrong girl to play rough with," she taunted him as she jumped back onto her feet, holding up both hands. "Come on, big boy, or are you afraid of getting your butt whipped by a girl half your size?"

Really, it didn't matter which planet they were from, all men were the same, she thought with a grin as he let out a growl, storming at her. They all had the need to defend their ego whenever it was bruised. It was pathetic, but it was nice to know that it was a universal problem instead of just a human one.

Flipping over him, she kicked his feet, knocking him to the ground before running at Jim, who'd gotten into some trouble and was dangling over the edge with the Romulan standing right above him, determined to squish his fingers so he would let go and fall to his death.

Letting out a yell, Emily tackled him, shoving him away from the platform. He looked back at her briefly, horror and shock in place before he tumbled into the laser just like Olsen had.

Grinning down at Jim, she grabbed his hand, determined to pull him up but something shoved her from behind, nearly sending her to her death, but Jim grabbed her hand, fear in his bright blue eyes as he transferred her to his belt. Emily gasped, her heart pounding frantically as she looked up at the second Romulan grinning down at them, proceeding to try and squish Jim's fingers just like his friend had.

They weren't going to hold on much longer, Emily thought in horror as she saw Jim's strained expression. He couldn't hold both of them there and avoid getting his fingers crushed for much longer.

But what else could she do? Except . . .

Upon sudden inspiration, she looked down at her belt, remembering the gun—phaser? Was that the right word?—that Pike had pressed on her before they'd left.

Snatching it from its holster, she kept it out of sight, keeping one arm around Jim's waist and waited for the right moment.

"Say goodbye," the Romulan sneered at them. Emily whipped the phaser into sight, pointing it directly at him.

"Goodbye," she told him and fired.

Her mark was true as it hit him in the head; she wasn't sure if hearts were in the same place in an alien species, but heads were the same in any race. He stumbled backwards, eyes widening, before falling backwards to the ground, dead before he hit.

Emily's breath was shuddering as she lowered the phaser. Jim let out a small sigh of relief, looking back at her and saw her expression.

"You okay, Em?"

She nodded quickly, though not entirely certain of that fact. "Yeah . . . I just . . . I've never actually, uh . . ."

"Killed someone before?" he offered softly. She nodded. "I know, Em. It's okay. If you hadn't, we'd both be dead." Emily knew that, but that didn't make it any harder to digest. "And we still might if you don't get off my back."

Emily blinked, realizing for the first time that she was still clutching Jim, dangling thousands of feet in the air. "Oh . . . right."

He laughed weakly. "Think you can climb up?"

"No problem," she said with a small smile, slowly climbing up his shoulders and onto the platform.

Bending down, she grasped his hand and helped him up before looking around at the laser, which was still intact.

"Olsen had the charges," she said dimly because really what else could she say? "What are we gonna do?"

"This."

Jim snatched up the Romulan gun and fired at the drill. Emily followed his lead, firing at any weak spot that she could find, not letting up until the drill shuddered underneath them and the laser sputtered and turned off, leaving the two Starfleet officers standing on the platform, but at least they could be beamed back now, she thought in relief, though at the same time, she wondered what that was going to feel like.

"What is _that_?" Jim interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at where he was staring. There was something being launched through Vulcan atmosphere, falling through the air, past where she and Jim were standing on the platform, and down into the hole in the planet.

"That does not look good," she said.

Jim hit a button on his wrist communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise," he said quickly, "they just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled. Do you copy, Enterprise?"

_ "We read you,"_ a voice said over the conn. _"We're locking onto your signal. Stay right where you are, don't move." _

She had spoken too soon, because the Romulans had chosen at that precise moment to pull their drill out of the planet and Emily lost her footing for one second, but that was all it too for her to go tumbling towards the edge.

"Emily!" Jim yelled at her, trying to grab her. She tried to grab his outstretched hand, but their fingers barely touched before she went sliding off the edge and tumbled over into the air.

A scream ripped through her throat as she fell through the air, her heart literally jumping into her throat as she refused to look down. As though she could prevent her coming death merely by not looking; she almost wanted to laugh at the thought. This was it; she was going to die.

A flash of blue caught her eye and she looked up as Jim flung himself off the platform, diving right for her. His bright blue eyes were determined as he pushed himself further through the air, determined to get to her as Emily tried, in vain, to slow herself down long enough for him to catch up with her.

"Emily! Pull your chute!"

She blinked stupidly; of course, the chute. Hers hadn't been destroyed yet, she realized as she hit the button to release it, but she was going too fast and it had already been slightly damaged from before by getting shot through. It snapped off easily, leaving Emily with nothing to slow her momentum.

Jim looked afraid as he propelled himself forward, getting closer and closer to Emily. She reached for him, trying to grab his hand. Their fingers were almost touching and then . . .

"Gotcha!" he yelled triumphantly as he pulled her against him. "I've got you, Em." She could sense his relief as he gripped her tightly. "Pull my chute!"

She obeyed, hitting the button that would release his chute, but just as hers did, it ripped off, flying through the air and leaving them behind.

Jim looked alarmed as he hit the wristwatch. "Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!" he yelled. "Beam us up!"

_ "I'm trying! I can't lock on to your signal! You're moving too fast!"_

"Enterprise, where are you?!" Jim screamed at them as frantically as she felt. What would happen if Chekov didn't happen to get there in time? she wondered. Would she wake up in her bed back at her dormitory?

Or would she, like some people believed, die because she had died in a dream?

Emily wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or vomit at the idea, but she didn't have time to think about it as she clung to Jim, her entire body trembling.

She screamed as she felt her body shifting and white lights formed around her; the sensation was incredible. It was almost like being everywhere at once and then being reformed into her own body again. Everything came undone rapidly before putting itself together just as quickly.

Gasping as she hit the ground with Jim right on top of her, Emily felt slightly dazed, looking up at Jim, who was grinning down at her, not moving from where he was.

She laughed in relief; really, what else could she do? They were alive. They were _alive_. _They were alive!_

For a minute there, she actually thought that they were going to die. And whoever said that a person saw their life flash before their eyes was an idiot, because she hadn't seen anything, just felt pure undiluted fear running through her.

Still laughing, she pushed Jim off of her, shakily getting to her feet as she heard someone else laughing in relief. Her green gaze flew over to the Vulcan female—Spock's sister—that was sliding to the floor, looking extremely relieved as her light brown eyes met Emily's.

All laughter ceased from Emily's mouth as she stared at the Vulcan, shock running through her mixed with disbelief. She should have recognized that dark brown hair, should have recognized her at once, but the Vulcan parts of her had thrown her senses off.

"_Joni_?" she breathed.

**AN:** Guys, thank you so, so much for the reviews! I absolutely loved them! I know I sound like I'm a broken record, but they really do help, they really do. So you guys know what to do! Hope you enjoyed and hopefully, you'll tell me how much you enjoyed it. (Hint, hint).

Lady Dawson


	10. Energize!

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter 10: Energize!

Joni ceased laughing the moment Emily said "Joni?" in the form of a disbelieving question. In response to the question, Joni brightly smiled and gave a single nod of affirmation to her friend, _who was alive!_

It was the biggest relief of Joni's life to see Emily alive, and her friend looked the hero as she stood next to Kirk, both of them looking sweaty, bruised, and battered in their spacesuits after a successful space dive. They were the two best badasses that Joni had ever seen! And the two of them standing next to each other like that seemed completely _normal_, Joni realized.

Emily's green eyes brightened as full recognition of Joni dawned on her, but it was clear that Emily was just as excited to see her as she was to see Emily. It was also strange, because in actuality Joni and Emily hardly knew each other. They had hardly been roommates for over week. Yet it was strange how Joni felt like they were the best of friends in that instant. They shared something that no one else could know or explain.

"Is it really you?" Emily asked the question that Joni had wanted to ask her. Her green eyes were sparkling with hope.

Joni wanted to leap up and geek-out with Emily. She wanted to jump up and down and shouting, "_How cool is this that we are in the Star Trek world!"_ while dancing in a circle like _Ring-Around-the-Rosie_.

But there was no time to answer Emily's question, and there was no time for geeking-out, and there was especially no time for a reunion, of any sort.

"Clear the way," Joni heard the cold, urgent voice of Spock as he suddenly shadowed her in the doorway. She was still slumped to the floor preventing him from getting in the teleporter room.

If Joni had thought she had seen Spock looking disapproving before, now he looked the worse. When she looked up at him, his eyes were almost murderous, like Joni had committed the worst of taboos being there on the floor in his way. That's also when Joni remembered: _Their parents, they were in trouble!_

She leaped up in one swift movement. Spock was already past her in a nanosecond, and she followed him in tow without another thought. She was going to go with him. She understood that she was supposed to go with him to the surface of Vulcan.

"We're beaming to the surface together," Joni said flatly. She knew he would not argue if she said it with assuredness, and monotony _was_ assuredness to Vulcans.

"Beaming to the surface of what?" Kirk said in a raspy voice. He was still catching his breath from his "_fall" _to the surface with Emily. Spock wrapped a utility belt to his waist as Kirk went on to say, "What—you two are going down there? Are you nuts?!"

Joni tried to take a place on the pad next to Spock, but she was stopped by Emily who reached out and held her by the arm. "You don't have to do this," she said with panic. "I'll go instead! There's no reason—"

Joni yanked her arm away. Spock was ready and crouching, and Joni gave Emily a look of warning—a look that said, _"I have to do this,"_ as she took a place on the pad next to Spock. She hoped Emily would understand, but by the look Joni saw, Emily didn't understand. Emily's face matched that of Kirk's, one of disbelief and concern.

"Joan! Spock! You can't do this!" Kirk shouted.

"Energize!" Spock commanded.

"Spock!" Kirk roared over the whirring of the pad at the same time that Emily hollered, "Joni!"

Joni felt her heart jump from her chest as lights—tiny spinning lights—surrounded her eyes. Those were particles, she thought. _Her particles_. She was watching herself dematerialize before her own eyes, before her eyes would dematerialize too.

Joni panicked in her last seconds as a whole person. She had never done this before, of course. Teleportation wasn't real where she was from—at least not yet. But even the idea; Joni had never wanted to even try teleportation, no matter how many times she watched Star Trek. In fact, the idea frightened her. The thought of being pulled apart particle by particle and then pieced back together—it frightened her. _She had transporter phobia!_

And that was Joni's last thought before she found herself on the surface of Vulcan where the air itself was more arid and heat was drawn into her lungs.

She stumbled forward and scratched at her arms, because her skin also felt prickly, like she could feel that every particle had been pulled apart and they were still whirring on the inside her body and the surface of her skin. She couldn't tell if it was all in her head or not. She shivered with disgust.

Spock stood and said, "Let's go," as he dashed forward.

Joni tried not to hesitate as she ran forward to follow, but the ground was shaking and the sound of rocks cracking and tumbling echoed through the rocky terrain. She had trouble standing up right as she snaked her way up the rocky slope trying to follow her brother.

Spock, who was born on Vulcan, was used to running, climbing, and even living in this environment; that's why he was such a pro at making his way up. Joni kept it to herself that the closest thing she had to training on such harsh terrain was her high school experience in Cross Country.

Then again, there was a feeling in the back of her head that longed for the rocky desert and orange sky of Vulcan. She had always had a secret passion for deserts. It would have been a fascinating experience to grow up on a desert planet like Mars, Joni admitted to herself. Or like Vulcan, which was real in this universe, but wouldn't exist for much longer.

Now, with every crack of rock she heard, Joni felt a tear in her heart. This planet was falling apart. _Her_ planet was falling apart.

Their destination was only a little ways up the rocky slope—the katric ark. A short ways up the slope, Joni finally noticed the path that led up. The path worked its way up and around the slope right into the carved entrance of the katric ark; it had blended into the rock from the angle they had started, but once Spock and Joni were running on the path, they made it to the entrance faster than she had expected.

Upon entering the stone corridor right behind Spock, Joni had to block her head and eyes by crossing her arms over her forehead. Rubble and dust were falling from above making it difficult to breathe and see; the corridor lights were already too dim and some were even going out as cracks appeared in the walls.

Both she and Spock were breathing heavily as they reached the inner chamber. However, to Joni it felt easier to run inside the chamber because there was less debris falling on her head. She boosted forward slightly ahead of Spock, suddenly stopping herself at the foot of the stairs and allowing her brother to be the one to go up and address the council.

Joni just couldn't believe it; she was actually too anxious to go up and see Sarek and Amanda. _What would they think of her? Would they realize that she wasn't really their daughter? Why was this bothering her at a time like this?_

She stared up at the Vulcan statue looming above wondering why she was there. Why was she in this universe as a Vulcan, having to witness the destruction of Vulcan? The moment felt all too spiritual to Joni and she stood frozen with awe and fear. _Was she going to die?_

"Spock!" Joni heard Amanda gasp.

"The planet only has seconds left, we must evacuate," Spock projected fairly well considering he was out of breath. A second of silence and he said, "Mother, now!" And a few seconds later Spock was coming down the stairs holding Amanda at his side.

"Joni!" Amanda exclaimed as she saw Joni standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Joni had no time to feel comforted by the fact Amanda recognized her and even called her Joni with loving familiarity, because Sarek urged Joni forward with a motion of his hand after Spock and Amanda had already ran past her. Now the four of them, Spock and Amanda in front and Joni and Sarek not too far behind, with the other members of the council behind them, ran from the chamber.

The thunk of the statue behind her with the short grunt of death that meant the statue had crushed one of the council members. Amanda let out a short scream, but she was the only one who was truly panicking; mostly because everyone else was a Vulcan who would not show emotion, including fear or panic. The only reason Joni had not panicked from hearing the death was because she had been expecting it.

Just like the next one as the ceiling caved in on more of the council members. Their final gasps of pain made her tense. It bothered her that she could be so close to their deaths and not be able to do anything about it as she rushed forward for her own life. She wished she had thought things through more rationally. Maybe she could have saved more of the council had she planned ahead.

Everyone who survived exited the ark in a disarrayed fashion and halted. The view of the outside was not pretty. The ground in the distance was falling inward and all the mountains were crumbling as volcanic ash filled the air and molten rock burst from every crack on Vulcan's broken surface. It mesmerized Joni until Sarek spun around and looked at her.

The look he gave her was not a very Vulcan look. It was saturated with concern and confusion. It made something awaken in Joni. She suddenly had the revelation as to why she was there—why she had gone to the surface of Vulcan with Spock.

She pushed past Sarek and made her way towards Spock and Amanda.

"Spock to Enterprise. Get us out of here now!"

Joni heard Chekov on the com respond to Spock with, "Locking volume. Don't move, stay right where you are."

Lights began spinning around everyone, but Joni took another step forward. Amanda turned around and stared at Spock and then at Joni with wide eyes of terror. And in that moment, Joni did something she didn't care if she wasn't supposed to do or not. She reached for Amanda and just as the ledge began to giveaway, she pulled the woman into an embrace. What ensued was that everyone else was transported before Amanda and Joni. The two of them were left behind for a brief second just before they, too, were dematerialized to safety. And later, Joni imagined that the entire ledge had given-away right after they had been.

Now, Joni appeared on the teleporter pad on the Enterprise holding Amanda in her arms. The woman was crying into Joni's shoulder and Spock was staring at Joni with calculating perplexity, certainly wondering how Joni had known the ledge was going to break and how she knew to pull Amanda away. She had saved their mother, and yet Spock would never understand the true gravity of it. Amanda had died in the movie, yet here she was, alive.

Everyone was quiet in the transporter room until Amanda pulled away from Joni and said, "Thank you," before hugging her again.

Joni looked outward and saw Kirk and Emily standing near the console near Chekov who seemed to be waiting for everyone else, anyone to say or do something. Kirk was remotely relieved to see Spock and her alive, but Emily—Emily had a look of shock on her face. Her look carried the same thought that Joni was thinking:

What had Joni done?

* * *

It was only a minute or two later that Spock used the com to tell the Bridge that everyone was on board and to, "Get the Enterprise out of reach of the black hole, Helmsmen Sulu."

And that was it. There was no final look of Vulcan as it collapsed in on itself like there was in the movie. There was no music to go along with the gloom. But Joni could picture the scene perfectly in her head; and the dreariest part of it all was that the piece—the song that went with the destruction of Vulcan—was one of her favorite pieces from the movie. The song itself was titled _An Endangered Species_, and it had not been released on the Star Trek OST, only on the Deluxe Limited Edition Soundtrack—something Joni would have sold her soul to get had it not been as easy as money.

_ But now…_

Now Joni was regretting knowing the movie score so intimately. And she was regretting knowing the movie all-around too well. Because now Joni was _living_ the very moment she saw as a masterpiece of the 2009 Star Trek film. She _was_ an endangered species, and she couldn't help but feel confused and broken on the inside like something important was left behind—something that could never be retrieved. It wasn't the normal kind of heartbreak. It was something more and something different.

Joni was only taken out of her gloomy daze when Spock told Sarek, Amanda, and the other council members to head for Sickbay. In a solemn and forbidding manner he also told them that _he_ would return to the Bridge.

It was not surprising that he had to order the stubborn Kirk and Emily to go to Sickbay as well; they both wanted something, but Spock _and_ even Joni wouldn't have it. Joni could tell that Emily was desperate to ask questions that Joni knew she didn't have the answers to. Like why they were in the Star Trek universe. Or what would happen now, now that Joni saved Amanda.

Joni was in no mood to answer these questions and she gave Emily an urging glower to indicate such, who in turn, grumpily persuaded Kirk to, "Just go to Sickbay." And Kirk listened because, Joni could tell, he was used to listening to Emily.

Of course, Joni was supposed to go to Sickbay with Amanda and Sarek too, but she didn't. Joni promised Amanda, who didn't seem to want to be away from either of her children at the moment that Joni would be in Sickbay as soon as she had a brief word with the Captain. And then she followed Spock towards the Turbolift, stepping inside the Turbolift with him.

Spock didn't indicate that he cared and they made the trip to the Bridge in silence. Joni could not get the scene of Vulcan's destruction out of her head.

When the door to the lift opened, Spock did not step out immediately. Without turning to Joni he said, "You are acting Chief engineering officer until further notice, Lieutenant Joan. Report to Sickbay first…" He paused, but lowering his voice he said, "Make sure Mother is subjectively fit. Then return to Engineering." He did not wait for Joni to respond and stepped out of the lift.

She followed him. "Captain, a word?"

"You have your orders, Lieutenant," he said unconcernedly.

"_Captain_," Joni said a bit more harshly to get his attention.

Whether Spock would admit it or not, he reacted to emotion. He stopped and turned before arriving at the Captain's chair and stared at Joni with a harshness of his own. It was very subtle, but Joni was quickly learning to pick up on it. It was a very small and almost unnoticeable twitch in the corner of his mouth. She knew she had his attention now.

Everyone was now staring at them and Joni realized she could not show disrespect to Spock, not on the Bridge. It would be mutinous. In a very low voice Joni said, "You cannot ignore what has happened and how it will affect," she was going to say Mother, but she stopped herself and instead inserted, "the Council. They have," _emotional_, "needs."

"I am well aware of the needs of the Council members, Lieutenant," Spock behooved.

"Come to Sickbay with me," Joni couldn't believe she was having to suggest it to him. He had gone of his own accord in the movie, hadn't he? In the short scene that played out while Spock gave his Captain's log; he had been in Sickbay, hadn't he?

But in that instant, it hit Joni: Spock didn't want to face his mother. He didn't want his mother to see him in a weak state of mind. The destruction of Vulcan was not as intense as losing Vulcan _and _his mother, but it had still affected him. Vulcan's destruction had stirred unwanted emotions in him and now he had to avoid showing these emotions to his mother.

For a moment, it looked like Spock was going to say something emotional, but then he thought the better of it and simply said, "The Captain's duty is on the Bridge. You have your orders, Lieutenant," he repeated.

Joni really wanted to yell at him, but hid her frustration in a, "Yes, Captain."

She turned and threw a cold glance at Uhura before reentering the Turbolift and heading for Sickbay. Spock would change his mind; and when he did, he would find comfort in Uhura.

At least, that's what Joni was hoping would happen. Saving Amanda might have changed everything.

AN: I know it's been a long time-okay, a month . . . or two . . . but EssentiallyRei and I are back and the next chapter is already in progress. So the sooner you review, the sooner we get motivated and the sooner it'll be posted! So you know the drill. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and looking forward to your guys' reviews!

Lady Dawson


	11. The Right Partner

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Eleven: The Right Partner

Emily wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or possibly both.

Joni was on the ship. Joni was on the Enterprise.

_ Joni was on the Enterprise. _

On the list of _all_ the things that could've happened today, this definitely was nowhere on it. Emily never could have predicted, much less anticipated, that her roommate—from the real world—would appear on the ship, never mind that she would also be a Vulcan and Spock's twin sister.

But before she could even register what was happening, Spock had appeared, ordering his sister out of the way and then they were beaming down to the surface of Vulcan together. Emily wasn't stupid; she understood why they were going. If Joni was Spock's sister, then that meant that their _parents_ were in danger and their mother was going to die in the next couple minutes. She understood _that_ part, but what she didn't get was why Joni was so determined to go down there when Emily was perfectly willing to go down to help Spock. Sure, the guy was annoying, but she understood the pain of losing a parent; it wasn't something that she'd put her worst enemy through.

Rather than let Emily take her place, though, Joni just went down there with—with her _brother_ and Emily was left standing there helplessly with Jim, her entire body aching from her fall from the drill and landing on the platform, anxiously waiting for them to come back. It was only a few minutes, but every second that passed felt like an eternity.

And there was nothing she could do but wait; nothing she could do but stand there and wait for the outcome.

The second that the lights flashed, bringing the group into sight, Emily realized why Joni had gone down there, what she had gone down there _for_; in addition to Joni, Spock, his father, and the other elders of Vulcan, there was another person . . . a human woman that Joni was embracing as they swarmed back into place, the white lights fading around them.

Joni and Spock's _mother_ . . .

Emily didn't know what to think, but her mind spun at the implication of what this could mean; by saving her, Joni had changed the entire course of events from here on out. His mother's death was part of how the rest of the movie had affected Spock; who knew what that would mean?

Though she wanted desperately to stay and talk to Joni, to try and get some answers, one look from the brunette was enough to tell Emily that there would be no getting answers from Joni right now; after assuring her that she would be in Sickbay shortly, Joni had gone after her brother.

Frustrated, Emily stalked down the hallway with Jim, silently fuming and wondering what the _hell_ was gonna happen next.

All the frustration left her as soon as she stepped into Sickbay and she saw the few Vulcans that had been sent there; all breath left her in that instant as she stood there, everything suddenly crashing down onto her in full.

An entire planet was _gone_; it had just been sucked into oblivion . . . hundreds . . . thousands . . . millions . . . no, _billions _of lives were just ripped away from them, some of them undoubtedly before they could even begin. Men, women . . . Gods, _children_ . . . all of them were just . . . gone . . .

Her stomach lurched without warning and Emily stumbled backwards. Next thing she knew, she was heaving into a bin that had been shoved underneath her mouth and someone was pulling her blonde hair out of the way. She didn't even need to look up to know that it was McCoy.

"Thanks, Doc," she mumbled, her knees trembling underneath her as she staggered backwards into the chair he pushed her into.

"Forget about it," he replied, more gently than was his usual manner. "You okay?"

"Define 'okay,'" she mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose. While she didn't feel quite so nauseous anymore, she didn't feel altogether steady. McCoy surveyed her appearance critically before waving his tricorder at her. "How is everybody?"

He blinked, startled, then glance towards the Vulcans. "They're . . . shaken, but they're holding up. Looks like you're about the same," he observed. Emily couldn't argue. "Alright, looks like you hit your head pretty good, so I'm gonna give you something for that, but otherwise, you look okay."

"Thanks, Doc," she said with a hesitant smile before glancing in Jim's direction. He was having his hand wrapped by a couple of nurses, but even he seemed quiet, affected by the tragedy that had occurred.

McCoy seemed to notice where her attention had gone, because he cleared his throat suddenly and she looked back at him. "What the hell were you thinking, Em?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he replied, dropping his voice a few octaves and giving her a fierce look. "That kiss."

_ Oh . . . _

Emily felt the heat rise into her cheeks, but she tried, vainly, to ignore it. "This isn't really the time or place to talk about that, is it?" she mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. "Anyway, Leonard, it's none of your business."

"Of course not," McCoy grumbled. "Just because it concerns my two best friends, that means I can't put my two cents in." Emily sighed. "You know what he's like, Emily; I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You don't need to worry about . . . that," Emily said, her eyes flying to the man in question. "Jim would _never_ hurt me, even if something like . . . that did happen. He's my best friend, Leonard, and I . . . I know he'd never intentionally hurt me. We have each other's backs," she said softly and it was true. Back on that drill, it had felt so effortless, fighting next to Jim as though she'd been doing it all her life.

"I think you're making a mistake," McCoy drawled, shaking his head as he jabbed her with a hypo. "Whatever happened to the whole swearing off men thing?"

Emily jerked as though she'd been hit with lightning, her head whipping around to stare directly at McCoy. "What?!"

He looked up at her reaction, obviously realizing that he'd said the wrong thing. "Ugh, I forget Jim said not to mention that to you," he muttered. "I'm an idiot . . ."

"What . . . exactly did Jim tell you?" Emily said slowly, her heart racing, a crazy, almost impossibly idea forming in her head.

"About your high school boyfriend," McCoy said hesitantly, looking awkward. "Adam, I think he said his name was. Jim said that's why you're so adamant against dating anyone."

Emily felt as though she'd been punching in the stomach, but she forced her expression to conceal whatever she wanted to show. _The whole Adam thing happened here too . . . _

"I'm sorry," McCoy apologized, "I didn't realize that it was a secret."

"No, it's okay," Emily managed. "It's okay that you know . . . I just . . . didn't realize that Jim told you . . ."

McCoy nodded once. "So . . . what did happen to the swearing off men?"

"I don't know," Emily admitted, realizing that this was true. She wasn't sure when she'd tossed that out the window. "I guess . . . I guess maybe I've just been waiting."

"For what?"

She glanced towards Jim, suddenly aware of just how true her words were, though she found it hilarious, later, how the quote from Captain America seemed to fit here.

"The right partner," she whispered.

* * *

Emily stepped onto the Bridge, her gaze immediately flying to Joni, who was standing there in her red attire, her gaze serious and anxious as she surveyed her brother. Briefly, her light brown gaze met her green ones, but she gave Emily a significant look; this was neither the time nor the place to discuss anything that either of them wanted to. Like it or not, she was going to have to wait until later to get answers from Joni—although, Emily was starting to get the feeling that neither of them had the answers they both desperately craved.

Which begged the question, who _did_ have those answers?

With a small sigh, Emily joined Jim, standing next to him as she listened to the conversation going on around her, glancing edgily at the blond next to her. His hand absently reached down to grasp hers as McCoy exclaimed, "I'm a doctor, not a physicist; are you actually suggesting they're from the future?"

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Spock replied.

"Is this really the time to quote Sherlock Holmes?" Emily muttered, too quietly for anyone but Jim to hear.

"Then what would an angry future Romulan want with Captain Pike?" Jim wondered, though he was suppressing a grin at Emily's comment.

"As Captain, he does know details of Starfleet's defenses," Sulu offered.

"What we need to do is catch up to that ship," Jim said, letting go of Emily's hand suddenly and approaching Spock, "disable it, take it over and get Pike back."

His voice shook slightly at the mention of the captain, which Emily hadn't noticed before, when she and Joni had been watching this back in their world. And then it hit her; Pike had recruited Jim, he had been there from the very beginning, ever since Jim had first stepped foot into Starfleet. He was probably the closest thing that Jim had to a father. So of course he would be worried about him . . .

"We are technologically outmatched in every way," Spock retorted, brown eyes flashing dangerously. "A rescue attempt would be illogical."

"Illogical, maybe," Emily replied, frowning at Spock, "but sometimes the most illogical thing can be the most logical course of action."

Joni made a small noise, almost like laughter, but when everyone glanced at her, her face was perfectly stoic, a mimicry of her brother's.

"What about assigning engineering crews to try and boost our warp yield?" Jim suggesting, glancing at Joni.

"Remaining engineering crew are being used to repair radiation leaks on the lower decks," Joni said when Spock didn't immediately speak up, "and damage to subspace communications."

"Without which we cannot contact Starfleet," Spock picked up where his sister had trailed off, looking towards him. "We must gather with the rest of Starfleet to balance the terms of the next engagement."

"There isn't gonna _be_ a next engagement!" Jim exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration and glaring at the two Vulcans. "By the time we've gathered, it'll be too late. You say that he's from the future, knows what's gonna happen? Then the _logical_ thing would be to be unpredictable!"

"You're assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold," Spock corrected him. "On the contrary, Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack on the U.S.S. Kelvin, culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party. Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, then our destinies have changed. Mr. Sulu, plot a course for the Laurentian system, warp factor 3."

"No, Spock, don't do that," Jim tried to stop him. "Running back to the rest of the fleet for a confab is a massive waste of time."

"These are the orders issued by Captain Pike when he left the ship," Spock reminded him with a subtle glare.

"I think those orders changed when Nero turned out to be from the future," Emily interjected while Jim retorted, "He also ordered us to come back and get him. Spock, you are captain now, you have to make—"

"I am _aware_ of my responsibilities, Mr. Kirk," he said as sharply as Emily had ever heard the Vulcan. "Lieutenant Conner, stand down."

Emily glared at him, daggers in her eyes. "I think I'll stand, thanks."

"Every second we waste, Nero's getting closer to his next target," Jim exploded.

"That is correct and why I'm instructing you to accept the fact that I alone am in command."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Pike make Jim First Officer?" Emily pointed out. A flicker of surprise ran around the room. "That means that you're not alone in this, _Captain_," she said, somehow managing to use his title as an insult. "He is supposed to be at your side."

"Pike did what?" McCoy asked incredulously.

"Not now, Doc," she said placidly.

"I will not allow us to go backwards, running away from the problem, instead of bringing Nero down!" Jim shouted as Spock, finally getting fed up, ordered, "Security, escort him out."

Emily scoffed in disbelief, marveling at just how irritating Spock could actually be; for such a brilliant guy, he was being such an _idiot_ right now. "You shouldn't do that; you need him here."

Spock proceeded to ignore her as two red shirts approached Jim and tried hauling him away, but right as soon as they were two feet away, he yanked free, fighting them tooth and nail to get away, but before he could do too much damage, Spock had reached down and did something to him that send him to the floor, unconscious.

"Jim!" Emily exclaimed, about to run to him, but McCoy grabbed her around the waist, hauling her back.

"Don't, Em," he whispered. "It's not worth it."

"Get him off this ship," Spock ordered Security.

"Gods, you are such an _idiot_!" Emily exclaimed, drawing attention from every single person in the room. "Just because Jim disagrees with you, that's reason enough to throw him off of the ship? You know, it may not have crossed your mind, but he might actually be right about Nero and we know he's headed for Earth! You really want Earth to suffer the same fate as Vulcan? Because that's what's gonna happen if we let him get his way!" She shook her head. "Jim's right, you know; he's the only one here who can actually see this through."

"Emily . . ." McCoy tried to stop her, but she just shrugged him off, glaring in his direction before looking back at Spock.

"No, Leonard," she snapped at him, "don't 'Emily' me. He's not thinking straight about these and honestly, who can really blame him, after having their entire planet get sucked into oblivion. And _that_ is what this is really about, isn't it?" she challenged Spock, whose gaze had fastened on something behind her. "You—"

A sharp gasp escaped from her as she felt a sharp pain on her neck, something that sent her tumbling to her knees just as Jim had a moment before. The last thing she remembered before everything went black was Joni standing above her, pulling her hand away from Emily.

* * *

"Emily? Em, can you hear me?"

She was vaguely aware of someone saying her name and someone shaking her, but she was too out of it to really put much sense of it as she groaned, instead turning her head into the particularly warm pillow underneath her, mumbling something indistinctive.

A small chuckle came from somewhere nearby and she registered that the pillow seemed to rumble as she heard it. "Come on, Em, you have to wake up, otherwise you're gonna freeze to death."

Freeze? Emily wondered. But she wasn't cold . . .

Actually, now that she thought about it, she was snuggling against the warm pillow more than she normally would have, curled up into a ball, as though trying to block out the cold that was seeping in.

Groaning, Emily forced her eyes to open and found herself looking at a black shirt. Her gaze flickered upwards to find Jim grinning down at her in some amusement, his bright blue eyes laughing at her.

"Holy sh—" she yelped, yanking away from him so fast that she hit her head on the ceiling above her—or . . . well, yeah, ceiling would work, she thought, rubbing her head painfully as she looked around her, realizing that the two of them were snuggled together in a very small compartment. "What happened?"

Jim's amused look faded and he suddenly looked murderous. "Acting Captain Spock put the two of us out, then shoved us in a pod, and dumped us on Delta Vega," he replied, "which as far as I'm concerned is a serious violation of Security Protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners aboard a starship vessel."

He sounded so outraged that Emily couldn't help but laugh at him, shaking her head and suppressing a smile.

"Yeah, well, take it up with the admiralty when we get back," she told him, "presuming that we actually get back, anyway."

"Oh, we're gonna get back," Jim replied in all seriousness. "And then I'm planning on ripping the bangs right off that pointy-eared—"

"Jim."

He sighed, then glanced at her. "You should've stayed out of it, Em; I could've handled Spock on my own. If you had, then you'd be safe on the Enterprise. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you're here, but I wish you were safe."

Emily gulped, wrapping her arms around herself as she suppressed a shiver. "I'd rather be here with you," she said, honestly meaning it. Gods, when did she start sounding like such a sap?

Jim looked happy to hear her say that, though, because despite their situation, he looked like a kid at Christmas as he straightened, moving past Emily to push open the door to their pod, grabbing one of the two duffels and climbing out.

Snagging the other duffle, Emily followed Jim, accepting his help as they climbed out of the pod, making their way up the cliff where they had landed and crawling up to the surface. Emily felt her breath hitch as she looked around at the icy wasteland that they were marooned on.

_ Hoth has nothing on this,_ she thought despairingly as they pulled on their jackets and began making their way through the snowy wasteland, trying to get to the Starfleet outpost. She almost wished that Joni was here, but thinking back and remembering that it was her roommate, her _friend_ that had put her out and ultimately had her end up here, she wasn't quite so sure she wanted her here.

"Hey, Em, can I ask you something?" Jim said through chattering teeth. They were huddled together as they walked, trying to keep warm by their own body teeth. She nodded, too cold to answer. "What was with the kiss back there, on the ship?"

Emily groaned; why couldn't he save that kind of talk until . . . well, they weren't exactly doing anything right now, but she was too cold for this kind of conversation. Go figure that James T-for-trouble Kirk could still talk about anything, even in these below freezing temperatures. "Do we have to talk about this now?"

"Got nothing better to do," Jim replied with an easy shrug. "Look . . . Emily, I . . . I thought that you . . ." He fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket, looking at loss for words, avoiding Emily's green gaze.

"You thought I what?" she asked, watching him. She had never seen him so nervous; it seemed to out of character for him.

Jim didn't look up. "I thought that you didn't want to date or even have anything to do with guys in _that_ way—ever," he mumbled. "I figured after Adam that . . . it was pointless to try and talk to you about something like that."

Emily swallowed, her heart quickening. "I know. I just . . . I was waiting for the right guy to come along."

"I've been here; I've always been here."

"I know," Emily said, trying to think straight. "I guess . . . maybe I needed to be ready, too, and I wasn't sure that I was. Heck, I'm still not sure if I am," she added with a laugh. "But I guess . . . maybe I'm ready for the possibility. I just . . . I'm scared, Jim," she confessed. "Gods, I don't think I could handle being hurt like that again."

Jim stopped walking and took a step closer to her. "You know I would never do that," he insisted. "Emily, you're the one person that I have always trusted, have always been able to go to when I needed. I've always wanted you," he confessed.

Emily met his eyes. "And all the others?"

He looked down, abashed. "I . . . guess I thought that if I was paying attention to others in that way, then I could forget about you. Stupid, I guess."

She considered it. "No, not stupid . . . idiotic, maybe," she corrected. He laughed. "But Jim . . . if we were to . . . pursue . . . something like _that_, then I would have to . . . have to know that we're both in it for the long run, not just some . . . friends with benefits thing," she said, wrinkling her nose.

Jim chuckled, pulling her closer. "Em, I never wanted anyone else," he said. And looking at his sincere bright blue eyes, Emily could almost believe him.

Before either of them could say anything else, though, Emily heard something in the distance, a roar and panic rose through her. _Oh, great . . . _

She spun around just in time to see something running straight at them in the distance, a wild animal that looked _very_ hungry.

"RUN!" Jim yelled at her, grabbing her arm.

More than happy to obey, Emily broke into a run, glancing back over her shoulder just in time to see the thing forced off of its hunt by a bigger, scalier animal. "There's always a bigger fish," she moaned as they ran, determined to put as much distance between themselves and the creature as possible.

"If it's bigger than _that_, I'm not sure I wanna meet it," Jim complained, nearly stumbling over a slick piece of ice. "Just keep running!"

"Until when?" Emily shouted, a scream escaping from her as her feet suddenly dropped underneath her and she went tumbling with Jim down a cliff, trying to grab on to something to slow down her fall, but there was nothing to grab. She just kept falling until she hit the ice.

Slightly dazed, she wondered how many times she was going to fall until they got back to Earth—if they got back to Earth—before she scrambled to her feet, hauling Jim up as the creature appeared on the cliff above them.

"Come on, let's go," she urged him, slipping on the ice but managed to keep herself upward as they ran.

"There, we can lose it there!" Jim shouted in her ear, pointing at a cave.

"I'm not sure that's small enough!" she shouted back, but still ran for it, praying that the movie hadn't changed enough and _he_ was still there to help them.

Sure enough, though, the creature followed them straight in and threw its tongue to grab—

Emily shrieked in both shock and alarm as its tongue snaked around her legs, knocking her off of feet. "JIM!"

"EMILY!" he shouted back, running for her and grabbing her around the waist, trying to pull her back from the thing, but it had a surprisingly strong hold. She screamed, trying to keep a grip on Jim as it tried tugging her away from him. "LET GO OF HER!"

A flicker of fire caught Emily's eye and she felt the creature release her as someone holding a torch waved it back and forth at the creature, driving it back, out of the cave. The creature retreated, backing away from the fire, and scurried away, albeit irritated that it didn't get the meal it wanted.

A small sob escaped from Emily as she gripped Jim's jacket tightly, feeling his arms wrap around her just as tightly. "Hey, hey, hey," he whispered, smoothing her blonde hair away from her face. "It's okay, it's okay, I've got you, it's okay, Em, you're okay. You're okay," he reassured her.

Only when her breathing had calmed somewhat did she allow herself to look up, realizing that they weren't alone. Okay, sure she _knew_ that, but she had only been vaguely aware of that fact.

The old Vulcan was staring at the two of them, surprised marking his face. There was a flicker of recognition as he looked at Jim, but Emily realized when his dark brown eyes flew over her, there wasn't even a trace.

"James T. Kirk," he said and Emily marveled at the familiarity of his voice. Maybe it was because she knew who he was, but he sounded like an older, wiser Spock. And really, that's who he was, she reasoned. "How did you find me?"

**AN:** Because you guys were so wonderful with the reviews, I decided to update this sooner than I planned! So thank you so much for those and . . . well, you guys know the drill. Hope you enjoyed!

Lady Dawson


	12. Out of Her Vulcan Mind

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter 12: Out of Her Vulcan Mind

It was not one of those moments that had come naturally like so many of the other moments that had happened so far in the Star Trek universe. The Vulcan nerve pinch was something Joni had to carefully but quickly calculate before she performed it on Emily. After all, Joni had never really done one before, despite whether _Star-Trek-Universe-Joni_ had; and it came as a surprise when it worked and Emily collapsed under the pressure of Joni's hand. Joni had underestimated the physical prowess of a Vulcan, and therefore of herself.

_ That's why Data was able to do it in Next Generation_, Joni mused later. It wasn't some telepathic _thing_ that Vulcan's were able to do, knocking an individual out with some kind of mindblast when they touched the person. It was because of the strength and pressure that Vulcans were able to apply to the pinch. And also why it could be learned by non-Vulcans.

At the present moment, however, Joni stared at the unconscious Emily with a slight disbelief of what she had managed to do, assuring herself that, _"Emily will understand why I did it when she wakes up." _At least she hoped Emily would anyway. After seeing how Emily reacted to Spock, there was no way of telling how she would react when she awoke. Emily could be just as furious with Joni as she seemed to have gotten with Spock.

_ Didn't Emily understand that Kirk had to get kicked off the Enterprise? That he had to go down to the ice planet to meet Spock Prime and Scotty?_

Joni looked up at Spock who regarded her with an almost amused and surprised tilt of the head before calmly telling Security, "Get him off this ship. And have Conner taken to her quarters with Security posted at her door."

_ That doesn't seem right. _Joni instantly considered the difference in the movie and what was actually taking place in front of her.

"Captain," she said as Kirk was being dragged away. McCoy was still crouched down with the unconscious Emily propped up against him. He looked up at Joni with an _Oh great, what now? _look.

"Lieutenant Conner should also be ejected from the ship along with Kirk," Joni said. She was sure about this advice. According to McCoy, Kirk and Emily had grown up together—they did basically everything together; so Joni felt it was safe to conclude that this Kirk, in this universe, seemed dependent on Emily, and therefore it seemed logical to make sure that Emily stuck with Kirk, and Kirk stuck with Emily.

Understandably McCoy did not see this logic and his face went bitter. "Now hang on!"

"She will undoubtedly be uncontrollable when she awakens," Joni quickly put in, "and finds that Kirk has been removed from the Enterprise. Kirk and Conner are two peas in a pod," she quoted what McCoy had said to her earlier in Sickbay before the destruction of Vulcan. She looked down at McCoy with compassion, not sharpness, to show him that she had Emily's and Kirk's well-being in her best interest. It seemed to at least get him to stop and think because he had no more of his immediate objections.

"Agreed," Spock responded. He had barely thought about the decision, and Joni had barely had to sway her brother to agree. Emily must have inwardly frustrated Spock that much. "Have Security outfit one of the pods for two crewmembers, and then have both Kirk and Conner ejected off the ship when we approach Delta Vega." He directed the order at another tactical officer who had arrived on the scene with two other tactical officers behind him. Joni recognized one from the movie.

As Emily was now being dragged away, McCoy finally stood up; and as Spock began giving more commands to his Bridge officers, McCoy turned to Joni.

"He took the two peas in a pod quite literally, didn't he?" Joni said first and only low enough for McCoy to hear.

"What cards are you playing?" McCoy asked just as low, but Joni could still pick up on the suspicion and scorn.

"Follow me," she said, and she and McCoy went for the Turbolift.

When the door to the Turbolift shut with them inside, Joni said, "Kirk and Emily will be back onboard before you know it. For now, let's do as Spock says. Believe it or not, Bones, our acting Captain does value your opinion. Be honest with him when the time comes."

McCoy glared at Joni. "We're friends now, are we?" He turned his head and rolled his eyes, but then sighed and turned back. "Hearing you call me _Bones_ is just as scary as having a Vulcan who just lost his planet run the ship."

"Daunting," Joni coolly agreed.

"But I find your reaction to Vulcan's destruction scarier than your brother's. Rather than being a wall of reason and logic like him, you are taking it all lightly. Good-spiritedly, even."

The door to the Turbolift opened, buy Joni stayed in place as she realized that McCoy had been doing a short psychiatric evaluation on her as they spoke. "If you're saying that the destruction of Vulcan had no negative effect on me whatsoever, you're wrong." She began walking, not even really knowing where she was going.

McCoy took step with her and shook his head. "I just spent an entire hour caring for the survivors of a planet that went to oblivion; and despite that Vulcans are supposed to be an emotionless and logical race, I could see it in their eyes, that they could feel it in their bones, that their planet was gone."

"So what are you implying?" Joni went slightly nervous and lost her Vulcan composure.

"I'm just making observations," McCoy said smartly. "As you Vulcans do. The fact that you show human emotions more than your brother, and that those emotions are not even frustration or anger after your planet was destroyed, they are affable and optimistic… That's not bad at all. It's a good sign that you're out of your Vulcan mind, but that's not bad at all."

He was obviously being sarcastic, and it saddened Joni.

Because, yes, it bothered Joni that she could not truly feel what Spock was feeling—what any of the Vulcans were feeling. Because deep down, she knew she wasn't really Vulcan. And she knew she wasn't even really Spock's sister. Deep down, she felt like an imposter. She was pretending to be Vulcan. And she was pretending to be Spock's sister.

"But this shouldn't be about me," she said to herself, but out loud. "This should be about _Spock_."

"It's about both of you," McCoy said harshly enough that it surprised Joni. "Both you and your brother are walking time bombs."

"And what do you suggest is done about it?" Joni had no one else to go to; no one else to ask. What was she supposed to do when she was an imposter, parading as something and someone she wasn't?

McCoy's eyebrows raised and he said, "Absolutely nothing." He padded Joni on the shoulder, which stopped her in her tracks. "If you need me," he half-smiled, "I'll be in Sickbay." And he walked off ahead of her.

* * *

"Your mother is looking for you." Joni recognized the voice of Sarek said as he approached Joni at an engineering console essentially hidden in a corner.

Joni stopped what she was doing, which was nothing more than going through recent damage reports and diagnostics for engineering over and over again, and turned around to face the expressionless Vulcan ambassador. In turn, he addressed a young woman standing beside him, asking, "Might I have a moment alone with my child?" The yeoman—Joni guessed based on her red attire, identical to hers except with no officer ranking—politely nodded and walked out of sight leaving Sarek and Joni alone.

"Do you think she's worried about me?" Joni asked with noticeable melancholy. But that was because she was not thinking about Amanda; she was thinking about her real mother, from the… (It had only occurred to Joni within the last hour to start calling it the _other_ universe, instead of real universe. She would not deny that this universe felt just as real as the universe she came from.)

Yes, her family from the _other_ universe had been in her mind as she hid away in a corner going over mundane reports. There was her mother, a single mom who used to be a flight attendant, but after she got pregnant with Joni, she quit sailing the skies and moved back to her hometown of Minden, Nebraska under the reproachful eyes of Joni's grandparents.

Then there was Joni's grandparents who helped pay for her to go to college so that their granddaughter wouldn't be stuck doing clerical work at the Kearney County Historical Museum like her mother.

Joni had politely begged them to help pay her way, really. She had to of course first prove to them she was responsible by making top grades in her junior and senior year of high school. (Her grandparents were to never find out that she had used some of the money they gave her to go Comic-Con over the summer.)

Lastly and almost always forgotten until now, was Joni's father, who was a commercial pilot for some European airline. Her mother never talked about him, and that was normal for Joni. She had only ever met him once when she was five and she didn't remember being overly impressed, and didn't even know it had been her father until she was older. She had always accepted not knowing anything about him, but for some reason she had been thinking about him for the first time in a very long time as she thought about family.

Amazingly, Joni knew far more about Sarek than she knew about her actual father and the thought fascinated her. He was one of her favorite characters in Star Trek; she respected him.

"This is a troubling time for your mother," Sarek sounded more Vulcan than Spock. His unemotional voice was experienced and colder than first contact with pool water, which could be fairly cold at times. "She worries for her children because she is human," he continued. "And she loves you."

A small and almost silent whimper escaped Joni's mouth. She immediately turned away facing the console, placing her hands on its sides, head down and frowning. She wanted to show emotion, but she didn't know how to in front of Sarek. What was too much? What was too little? How Vulcan was she supposed to be in front of him?

"I'm so confused right now," she despairingly admitted.

There was firm silence until Sarek said, "You will always be a child of two worlds."

_ What did he just say?!_

Joni looked up at Sarek with shock. These words of Sarek's were not supposed to be words said for her, but _to Spock_; because of the anger Spock felt for his mother's death… Which hadn't happened because of Joni.

Yet, more extraordinarily was the fact that in that instant his words couldn't have been truer to Joni. She _was_ indeed a child of two worlds: The universe where she was born as an only child in Minden, Nebraska. And now… this universe where she was born on Vulcan as Spock's twin.

"You have always understood this more so than your brother," he added. These words of his were new, but Joni was unremittingly tuned in to what he had to say now. "You have always expressed your emotions more freely than Spock has. You have always taken after your mother," he said with remote conclusion. "Spock sought the Vulcan way."

"Is that why you sent me to Earth… Father?" Joni hesitated to call him Father; she had never called anyone _Father_ in her life. "You saw me as more human than Vulcan?"

"I sent you to Earth because I wanted you to help your brother understand that he, too, is a child of two worlds."

So it was true. Sarek had sent Joni to enlist in Starfleet because he had been worried about Spock. Joni felt that it was a good thing that the past Joni of this universe had figured that part out already. Yet apparently when she had told Spock, he had not believed her.

"I don't think Spock listens to me," Joni said with irritation. She was definitely becoming more emotional in front of Sarek. Her underlying frustration was starting to seep through her melancholy, because she was confused and at a loss as to what to do now that she had no idea how things would play out. A part of her was coming to terms with how this wasn't all some play or movie she was starring in.

"Joan, my child," Sarek suddenly opened up with calming compassion. "Spock has always been envious of you."

"Envious?" Joni whispered in disbelief. "Of me?" How was she supposed to believe that Spock was envious of _her_? It did make a tad bit of sense, but not enough for Joni to be convinced that someone as intelligent and commanding as Spock would be envious of her. She had nothing on Spock.

"The two of you competed so often for your mother's attention as children," Sarek sounded so sure. "More often it was you that would win over your mother's compassion, because you would return her emotions openly. Spock has always been envious of the attention your mother gives to you before him. Of how easily being human comes to you."

Joni looked down again. She did not understand or see the logic that Sarek was using. "Why would Spock listen to his sister if he secretly holds such contempt for me?"

Sarek did not answer; not right away. Not until Joni looked up at him again. His face was placid and he held himself to his ambassador pose—the one with his hands folded over his abdomen. With strict ease he finally said, "You are Spock's other half, and he is your other half. Neither of you can hate what is already a part of you. The two of you need each other."

There was only silence as Sarek made his way out of sight, leaving Joni to think…

She stood staring at the console for a mere minute before a smile broadened across her face. She almost guffawed. Sarek had given her everything needed to make things right. Spock would get emotional yet. And Kirk would have his Captain's chair yet.

All Joni needed to do now was fetch a towel.

**AN:**Hey, guys, thank you so much for the reviews; they were awesome! Hopefully you guys continue to do so for this chapter (hint, hint). Okay, so, I am gonna be going on vacation on Sunday, so I will try to post the next chapter before then, but if I don't-for whatever reason-then there will be a slight break until I get back. So the sooner we get more reviews, the sooner I will be inspired to update and the faster the chapter will be written.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and looking forward to your guys' feedback!

Lady Dawson


	13. Spock Knows

**Out of This World**

by Lady Dawson and EssentiallyRei

Chapter Thirteen: Spock Knows

"It is remarkably pleasing to see you again, old friend," Future Spock said as he poked the fire, but Emily couldn't help but notice that his attention seemed focused on _her,_ studying her intently, almost searchingly. "Especially after the events of today . . ."

Jim, who still didn't look like he believed Future Spock as to his claim of who he was, stood up while Emily remained where she was, watching her friend. Because she could no more deny that they were friends any more than she could this world was real; too many things had happened for her to deny that this wasn't a dream.

"Sir," he said with as much politeness as he could muster, but there was no masking the disbelief in his tone, "I appreciate what you did for Emily and me today, but if you _were_ Spock, you'd know we're not friends—_at all_," he added more firmly. "You hate me; you marooned me here for mutiny and you sent Em here just because she argued with you."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that it was his sister that knocked me out," Emily put in, but she did this deliberately, to get a reaction out of the old Vulcan. It worked, too; her choice of words made his dark brown eyes fly to her, something of surprise in them.

Rather than comment on this, though, he asked Jim, "Mutiny? You are not the captain?"

Jim actually laughed, a touch of bitterness in it as he shook his head. "No, no . . . _you're_ the captain," he corrected. "Pike was taken hostage."

Future Spock looked uneasy, his attention returning to his friend. "By Nero," he said solemnly.

Emily watched as Jim stiffened, his entire body going very still as he slowly turned around, his bright blue gaze meeting Future Spock's dark brown. The disbelief was still there, but not because he didn't believe him, but more of incredulity. He had grown very pale as he asked softly, "What do you know about him?"

Future Spock heaved a sigh. "He is a particularly troubled Romulan," he admitted, standing up. "Please, allow me . . . it will be easier."

"Whoa—what are you doing?" Jim demanded, backing away instinctively, but the Vulcan just stepped closer.

"Our minds," he replied, "one and together." Emily watched, fascinated, as Future Spock pressed his fingers against Jim's face and showed him everything that he needed to know about Nero, Romulus—everything.

She knew, of course, what he was seeing, but she hadn't seen it from this angle; it was actually fascinating, watching Jim's eyes focus on something that wasn't there.

What threw her off guard was Future Spock, with his gaze on Jim, asking quietly, "Who are you?"

Her gaze shot to him and she scrambled to her feet. "What did you—?"

"Who are you?" Future Spock repeated, keeping his tone light. Emily stared at him, not fully understanding the question, but she found herself answering anyway.

"My—my name's Emily Conner . . . I'm a friend of Jim's . . . wait a minute, you don't know me?" Emily demanded, her chest suddenly feeling very tight, her mind spinning at the possible implications of what he was asking.

Was it possible he _knew_ she didn't belong here?

"I'm afraid I do not," Future Spock replied softly. "There was no Emily Conner in my timeline. How long have you known Jim?"

She felt her mouth go very dry as she slowly sank down again. "It's complicated," she whispered, "but . . . I'm not from this reality. I found myself here, a few days ago, and I don't know how I got here. One minute I was asleep on my couch and the next, I was waking up in a dorm room with Jim puking his guts out in the bathroom," she said, "and apparently, in this reality, I've known him my entire life and we've been friends since childhood, but . . . I don't know . . . I have no idea what's going on." She paused. "Wait, what about Joni? She's the other you's twin sister; she's from my reality too . . . did she exist in your future?" she asked, glancing at Jim suddenly. "Is he aware of anything we're saying?"

"No, he is absorbed in the mind meld," Future Spock replied calmly. "You mentioned a sister before . . . but I have no sister, nor any siblings. I was my parents' only child."

So neither she nor Joni had existed in the original timeline . . . Emily didn't know what to think of this, but her head was pounding at what that could possibly mean. How did she and Joni get here to begin with and _why_? Why would someone send them here? For what purpose?

"But this is not the first time that I've heard of something like this happening," Future Spock added after a minute. Emily looked up at him, surprised. "There was a young man on the Enterprise who claimed to be from another reality—one that was more than two hundred years in the past. His name was Gene Roddenberry," he added thoughtfully.

Something about the name sounded vaguely familiar to Emily, but she was more focused on the idea that there was someone else from her universe here. "And none of you had any idea that he was from a different reality until he said so?"

"No, there was never any indication," Future Spock answered, sounding thoughtful. "He was as much a part of the crew as anyone else was . . ."

"But why was he sent here? Why were _we _sent here?" Emily asked, hope rising through her. Maybe he would have some answers . . .

"I'm afraid I don't know," Spock confessed, looking just as perplexed as she felt, his eyebrows knitted together. "Why this universe would choose for me to have a sister and for you to be brought here as Jim's childhood friend . . . I'm sorry, Miss Conner, but I'm afraid I don't have the answers you seek."

Emily felt her hopes shattered just as quickly as they had been built, but she just nodded, looking away.

"Do not despair," Future Spock commented. "Sometimes the answers are not right in front of us. There may be reasons beyond what we say; we merely have to be patient enough to wait for them."

"I'm not the most patient person in the world."

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly and Emily was surprised to see almost a smile appearing, but all he said was, "Indeed."

Glancing at Jim, Emily asked, "Are you going to tell him?"

"Not yet," Spock answered quietly. "Not until I am sure."

"Of what?"

"Whether you are a danger to him," was all he said, but before Emily could launch a defense, Jim suddenly let out a gasp, yanking away from Spock and stumbling away.

"Jim!" Emily exclaimed, racing to him. He was shaking as she supported him, his face deathly pale. "Are you okay?"

He nodded quickly, but he looked like he might pass out at any moment; his face was certainly pale enough to.

"Forgive me," Future Spock said apologetically. He looked truly regretful as he surveyed his friend. "Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld."

Swallowing, Jim, with his arm around Emily to support himself, said shakily, "So you _do_ feel." It wasn't a question, but the Vulcan answered anyway.

"Yes."

"Going back in time, you changed all our lives . . ."

Spock hesitated, his gaze uncertain as it swept over Emily, meeting her green one briefly before he looked away. "Jim, Emily, we must go," he told them. "There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here." He was halfway to the exit when Jim stopped him.

"Wait—where you came from . . . did I know my father?"

Turning back to him, Future Spock regarded Jim warily, guilt and remorse flashing through his eyes as he nodded. "Yes. You often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become Captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?" Jim echoed, half in awe, half in disbelief.

"A ship we must return you both to as soon as possible," Future Spock added, making his way for the exit. Emily exchanged a look with Jim before they both followed him out into the freezing planet.

But there was something that seemed almost . . . off, was the best word Emily could come up with, as Jim looked back at her, but it was gone almost as soon as she noticed it, so fast that she wondered if it was just her imagination.

* * *

Emily sighed in deep relief as she stepped out of the below freezing temperatures, the warmth of the Starfleet facility sweeping over her as she followed Jim and Spock inside, rubbing her hands together tightly.

"Why the heck would anybody build an outpost on this frozen planet?" she muttered.

Jim smiled at her before glancing down the hallway. "Hello?"

Peering around Jim, Emily spotted the strange looking alien before he even rounded the corner, jogging towards them and coming to a stop, removing his goggles to eye them suspiciously before leading them through the facility, making their way for the engine room, where there was a man lying in a chair, his hat pulled down over his eyes, and he was snoring slightly until the alien prodded him awake.

"What?" he whined, reluctantly pushing his hat up to register Emily, Jim, and Spock. His eyes narrowed. "Do you realize how unacceptable this is?"

"Fascinating," Future Spock observed softly, a trace of amusement touching his lips as he surveyed the man.

"You really like that word, don't you?" Emily muttered. Spock glanced at her, but he seemed more amused than anything else, his gaze shifting between her and Jim briefly before returning his gaze to the man as he was sitting up.

"Okay, I'm sure you're just doing your jobs, but could you not come a wee bit sooner?" he complained. "Six months I've been here, living off Starfleet protein nibs and the promise of a good meal! And I know _exactly_ what's going on here, okay? Punishment, isn't it? Ongoing," he said, visibly upset, "for something that was . . . clearly an accident."

"You are Montgomery Scott," Spock said, looking almost . . . well, as happy as the Vulcan could be to see his old friend.

Jim stared at him. "You _know_ him?"

"Aye, that's me," Scotty—that just suited him better than Montgomery, Emily thought—replied, "you're in the right place. Unless there's another hardworking, equally starved Starfleet officer around."

"Me," his alien friend replied.

"Get off, shut up!" Scotty told him with a scowl. "You don't eat _anything_! You can eat, like, a bean, and you're done! I'm talking about real food. But you're here now, so thank you, where is it?" he asked, looking around as though expecting the supplies to magically appear in thin air.

"You are in fact the Mr. Scott that postulated the theory of transwarp beaming?" Future Spock inquired.

"That's what I'm talking about! How do you think I ended up here? I had a little debate with my instructor on the issue of relativistic physics and how it pertains to subspace travel. He seemed to think that the range of transporting something like a grapefruit was limited to about a hundred miles. I told him that I could not only beam a grapefruit from one planet to the adjacent planet—which is _easy_, by the way," he added, "I could do it with a life form. So . . . I tested it on Admiral Archer's prized beagle," he said, holding up his cup in toast.

"Hey, I know that dog, what happened to it?" Jim asked him.

Looking embarrassed, Scotty admitted, "I'll tell you when it reappears. I don't know, I do feel guilty about that."

"Poor thing," Emily said sympathetically. Scotty looked gratefully at her. "Dude, I was talking about the dog. You probably scared him out of mind."

Jim chuckled, reaching down to grasp her hand, sliding their fingers together and Emily was suddenly very aware of how their hands seemed to fit perfectly together, almost as though they had been made for each other. So distracted was she by this that she almost missed Spock saying, "What if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct? That it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship traveling at warp speed?"

"I think if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard of it."

"The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott . . . is because you haven't discovered it yet," Spock informed him.

Emily giggled at the astonished look that appeared on his face, his gaze flickering back and forth across all three of them as he slowly stood up. "Are you from the future?"

"Yeah, he is," Jim said, inclining his head to Spock, "we're not."

"Well, that's brilliant," Scotty said, looking at the time traveler. "Do they still have sandwiches there?"

Emily burst into a fit of giggles. Jim started laughing. Spock just smiled at the engineer, amused, as he said, "We are in need of a transporter pad; do you have one here?"

Scotty blinked. "Yeah, yeah . . . of course, it's thisaway," he said, jumping to his feet. "But there aren' any ships coming through, as far as I know . . . I mean, unless you was planning on beaming aboard a ship traveling faster than the speed of light . . ."

"That," Spock replied, "is precisely what they are going to do. They are needed aboard the Enterprise. And you will be going with them."

"What?" Scotty demanded.

"What?" Jim echoed.

"Good idea," Emily said brightly, causing all three of them to look at her. She shrugged. "Hey, we could use all the help we can get. Plus, you know, our esteemed captain is going to be tough to convince; we could use some extra help . . ."

Jim shook his head. "If there was ever a sign we were desperate," he muttered, too low for Scotty to hear.

"Hush, you," Emily muttered back. He snorted, but followed Scotty and Spock down the hallway with Emily right behind him, making their way for the transporter pad, all the while Scotty was prattling on.

". . . had her maiden voyage, has she?" he was saying. "She is one well-endowed lady; I'd like to get my hands around her ample nacelles—pardon the engineering parlance, miss," he added, looking quickly at Emily.

She just shrugged. "Hey, I've got four brothers," she said. "I've heard worse than that. And it's Emily, please," she requested.

"Pleasure, Emily," he said, beaming at her before making his way to Spock, sitting at one of the computers, his wizened fingers flying over the keypad. "The thing is, even if I believed you, right, where you're from, what I've done—which I _don't_, by the way—you're still talking about beaming aboard the Enterprise while she's traveling faster than light without a proper receiving pad. Get off there!" he exclaimed, noticing his friend climbing on the transporter. "It's not a climbing frame. The notion of transwarp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet, whilst wearing a blindfold while riding a horse. What's that?" he asked, looking at the computer.

"Your equation for transwarp beaming," Spock replied as he rose from the computers. Emily couldn't help but chuckle at Scotty's expression as he sat down.

"Imagine that!" he said, shaking his head and looking up at her. "It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving."

"Apparently, it _did_ occur to you," she pointed out with a smile as she made her way back to where Jim and Future Spock were talking. Judging from the frustrated look on Jim's face, she could guess what they were talking about.

". . . tell _you_ that I'm following your own orders? Why not? What happens?" Jim demanded as Emily came up behind them.

"There is a theory about meeting your past or future self should time travel occur," Emily offered, shoving her hands into her pockets. "It's very likely that it could cause a chain reaction that could destroy the entire universe. Or it's just possible that they could both just pass out," she added with a grin.

"I think the first is more likely," Spock replied, his dark eyes filled with humor. "Jim, Emily is right; this is one rule you cannot break. To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How? Over your dead body?"

"Preferably not. However, there is Starfleet Regulation 619. 619 states that any command officer who is emotionally compromised by the mission at hand must resign said command," Spock explained.

Jim looked incredulous. "You're saying that I have to emotionally compromise you . . . guys," he sought to clarify.

"The guy just lost his planet, Jim," Emily said softly. "He could have very easily lost his mother—which could have happened had Joni not intervened," she added as an afterthought. "Even he's not so emotionless that it's not affecting him. No one could possibly be that cold," she whispered.

Spock nodded in agreement. "And I can tell you now," he said, his voice slightly breaking, "I am emotionally compromised. What you must do is get me to show it."

"Aye, then, laddie, lassie," Scotty called from the transporter. "Live or die, let's get this over with."

Jim hesitated, but joined him at the transporter, but Spock stopped Emily briefly, dropping his voice so only she could hear.

"When this over, you and I will talk . . . along with Joni," he told her in an undertone.

"Understood," she said just as quietly. He released her arm and she climbed onto the transporter, inwardly wondering how this was going to all turn out. After everything that had been changed, there was no telling what could happen when they got back to the ship.

How the hell was Jim supposed to compromise Spock when his mother was still alive? she wondered. That had been the breaking point.

But, Emily thought, suppressing a smile, if there was one thing that she knew, it was that James Tiberius Kirk could emotionally compromise _anyone_.

Jim leaned out of the transporter to look at Future Spock. "You know, coming back in time, changing history . . . that's _cheating_."

A ghost of a smile appeared as he nodded. "A trick I learned from an old friend," he commented. He pressed a button before holding up his hand to them in the Vulcan gesture. "Live long . . . and prosper."

"Let's hope so," Emily murmured as white lights surrounded her, Jim, and Scotty and then they were gone. Her last look of Delta Vega was of Future Spock watching them, his expression unreadable.

And then she was engulfed in water.

**AN:** Okay, guys, as promised, here is Chapter Thirteen, which will be the last chapter until I get back from my trip. But don't fret; EssentiallyRei is already hard at work on it, so as soon as I get back, the next chapter will be posted soon after. Anyway, thanks a bunch for the reviews and please review this chapter! Hope you enjoyed!

Lady Dawson


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